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 resemble.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ressemble | I resemble | |
| tu | ressembles | you resemble | |
| il / elle / on | ressemble | he / she / it resembleson: we resemble / one resembles | |
| nous | ressemblons | we resemble | |
| vous | ressemblez | you resemble | |
| ils / elles | ressemblent | they resemble |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul ressemble à son grand-père.
Paul resembles his grandfather.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai ressemblé | I resembled | |
| tu | as ressemblé | you resembled | |
| il / elle / on | a ressemblé | he / she / it resembledon: we resembled / one resembled | |
| nous | avons ressemblé | we resembled | |
| vous | avez ressemblé | you resembled | |
| ils / elles | ont ressemblé | they resembled |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a ressemblé à son grand-père.
Yesterday, Paul resembled his grandfather.
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’ | ressemblais | I used to resemble | |
| tu | ressemblais | you used to resemble | |
| il / elle / on | ressemblait | he / she / it used to resembleon: we used to resemble / one used to resemble | |
| nous | ressemblions | we used to resemble | |
| vous | ressembliez | you used to resemble | |
| ils / elles | ressemblaient | they used to resemble |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul ressemblait à son grand-père.
Back then, Paul used to resemble his grandfather.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ressemblerai | I will resemble | |
| tu | ressembleras | you will resemble | |
| il / elle / on | ressemblera | he / she / it will resembleon: we will resemble / one will resemble | |
| nous | ressemblerons | we will resemble | |
| vous | ressemblerez | you will resemble | |
| ils / elles | ressembleront | they will resemble |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul ressemblera à son grand-père.
Later, Paul will resemble his grandfather.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ressemblerais | I would resemble | |
| tu | ressemblerais | you would resemble | |
| il / elle / on | ressemblerait | he / she / it would resembleon: we would resemble / one would resemble | |
| nous | ressemblerions | we would resemble | |
| vous | ressembleriez | you would resemble | |
| ils / elles | ressembleraient | they would resemble |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul ressemblerait à son grand-père.
Paul would resemble his grandfather.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ressemble | (that) I resemble | |
| tu | ressembles | (that) you resemble | |
| il / elle / on | ressemble | (that) he / she / it resembleson: (that) we resemble / one resembles | |
| nous | ressemblions | (that) we resemble | |
| vous | ressembliez | (that) you resemble | |
| ils / elles | ressemblent | (that) they resemble |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul ressemble à son grand-père.
It is possible that Paul resembles his grandfather.
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 resemble (to share similar qualities with)
- to look like, to resemble (to have physical or behavioral similarities with)
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