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 breathe.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | respire | I breathe | |
| tu | respires | you breathe | |
| il / elle / on | respire | he / she / it breatheson: we breathe / one breathes | |
| nous | respirons | we breathe | |
| vous | respirez | you breathe | |
| ils / elles | respirent | they breathe |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul respire l'air frais de la montagne.
Paul breathes the fresh mountain air.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai respiré | I breathed | |
| tu | as respiré | you breathed | |
| il / elle / on | a respiré | he / she / it breathedon: we breathed / one breathed | |
| nous | avons respiré | we breathed | |
| vous | avez respiré | you breathed | |
| ils / elles | ont respiré | they breathed |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a respiré l'air frais de la montagne.
Yesterday, Paul breathed the fresh mountain air.
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’ | respirais | I used to breathe | |
| tu | respirais | you used to breathe | |
| il / elle / on | respirait | he / she / it used to breatheon: we used to breathe / one used to breathe | |
| nous | respirions | we used to breathe | |
| vous | respiriez | you used to breathe | |
| ils / elles | respiraient | they used to breathe |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul respirait l'air frais de la montagne.
Back then, Paul used to breathe the fresh mountain air.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | respirerai | I will breathe | |
| tu | respireras | you will breathe | |
| il / elle / on | respirera | he / she / it will breatheon: we will breathe / one will breathe | |
| nous | respirerons | we will breathe | |
| vous | respirerez | you will breathe | |
| ils / elles | respireront | they will breathe |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul respirera l'air frais de la montagne.
Later, Paul will breathe the fresh mountain air.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | respirerais | I would breathe | |
| tu | respirerais | you would breathe | |
| il / elle / on | respirerait | he / she / it would breatheon: we would breathe / one would breathe | |
| nous | respirerions | we would breathe | |
| vous | respireriez | you would breathe | |
| ils / elles | respireraient | they would breathe |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul respirerait l'air frais de la montagne.
Paul would breathe the fresh mountain air.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | respire | (that) I breathe | |
| tu | respires | (that) you breathe | |
| il / elle / on | respire | (that) he / she / it breatheson: (that) we breathe / one breathes | |
| nous | respirions | (that) we breathe | |
| vous | respiriez | (that) you breathe | |
| ils / elles | respirent | (that) they breathe |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul respire l'air frais de la montagne.
It is possible that Paul breathes the fresh mountain air.
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 breathe
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