Conjugations
All six tenses and their examples are shown below. Use the links above to jump to a tense. English translations use the meaning “to respect.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | respecte | I respect | |
| tu | respectes | you respect | |
| il / elle / on | respecte | he / she / it respectson: we respect / one respects | |
| nous | respectons | we respect | |
| vous | respectez | you respect | |
| ils / elles | respectent | they respect |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul respecte les règles du jeu.
Paul respects the rules of the game.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai respecté | I respected | |
| tu | as respecté | you respected | |
| il / elle / on | a respecté | he / she / it respectedon: we respected / one respected | |
| nous | avons respecté | we respected | |
| vous | avez respecté | you respected | |
| ils / elles | ont respecté | they respected |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a respecté les règles du jeu.
Yesterday, Paul respected the rules of the game.
The passé composé uses avoir. The table shows the unmarked participle; agreement with a preceding direct object is outside this reference.
Back to tense navigation ↑Imperfect Imparfait
Past habits, descriptions, and actions in progress.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | respectais | I used to respect | |
| tu | respectais | you used to respect | |
| il / elle / on | respectait | he / she / it used to respecton: we used to respect / one used to respect | |
| nous | respections | we used to respect | |
| vous | respectiez | you used to respect | |
| ils / elles | respectaient | they used to respect |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul respectait les règles du jeu.
Back then, Paul used to respect the rules of the game.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | respecterai | I will respect | |
| tu | respecteras | you will respect | |
| il / elle / on | respectera | he / she / it will respecton: we will respect / one will respect | |
| nous | respecterons | we will respect | |
| vous | respecterez | you will respect | |
| ils / elles | respecteront | they will respect |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul respectera les règles du jeu.
Later, Paul will respect the rules of the game.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | respecterais | I would respect | |
| tu | respecterais | you would respect | |
| il / elle / on | respecterait | he / she / it would respecton: we would respect / one would respect | |
| nous | respecterions | we would respect | |
| vous | respecteriez | you would respect | |
| ils / elles | respecteraient | they would respect |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul respecterait les règles du jeu.
Paul would respect the rules of the game.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | respecte | (that) I respect | |
| tu | respectes | (that) you respect | |
| il / elle / on | respecte | (that) he / she / it respectson: (that) we respect / one respects | |
| nous | respections | (that) we respect | |
| vous | respectiez | (that) you respect | |
| ils / elles | respectent | (that) they respect |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul respecte les règles du jeu.
It is possible that Paul respects the rules of the game.
French forms omit the subject. Use j’ before a vowel sound. Vous is polite singular or plural “you”; on often means “we,” or the general “one.” English wording depends on the context: passé composé can also use “have,” and the imperfect can describe an ongoing action. Subjunctive translations here follow “it is possible that.”
Meaning & usage
- to respect
- to meet (deadline)
- to comply with (rules, laws)
English glosses are a starting point. The meaning of a verb can change with context, a preposition, or se. Read the full dictionary entry ↗
Meanings and simple conjugation forms adapted from English Wiktionary contributors via Kaikki.org / Wiktextract. Passé composé forms combine the source auxiliary and past participle. Frequency scores from wordfreq 3.1.1 by Robyn Speer and contributors. Adapted data is available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Entry source · Sources, download & limitations