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 feel.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ressens | I feel | |
| tu | ressens | you feel | |
| il / elle / on | ressent | he / she / it feelson: we feel / one feels | |
| nous | ressentons | we feel | |
| vous | ressentez | you feel | |
| ils / elles | ressentent | they feel |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul ressent une grande joie.
Paul feels great joy.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai ressenti | I felt | |
| tu | as ressenti | you felt | |
| il / elle / on | a ressenti | he / she / it felton: we felt / one felt | |
| nous | avons ressenti | we felt | |
| vous | avez ressenti | you felt | |
| ils / elles | ont ressenti | they felt |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a ressenti une grande joie.
Yesterday, Paul felt great joy.
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’ | ressentais | I used to feel | |
| tu | ressentais | you used to feel | |
| il / elle / on | ressentait | he / she / it used to feelon: we used to feel / one used to feel | |
| nous | ressentions | we used to feel | |
| vous | ressentiez | you used to feel | |
| ils / elles | ressentaient | they used to feel |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul ressentait une grande joie.
Back then, Paul used to feel great joy.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ressentirai | I will feel | |
| tu | ressentiras | you will feel | |
| il / elle / on | ressentira | he / she / it will feelon: we will feel / one will feel | |
| nous | ressentirons | we will feel | |
| vous | ressentirez | you will feel | |
| ils / elles | ressentiront | they will feel |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul ressentira une grande joie.
Later, Paul will feel great joy.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ressentirais | I would feel | |
| tu | ressentirais | you would feel | |
| il / elle / on | ressentirait | he / she / it would feelon: we would feel / one would feel | |
| nous | ressentirions | we would feel | |
| vous | ressentiriez | you would feel | |
| ils / elles | ressentiraient | they would feel |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul ressentirait une grande joie.
Paul would feel great joy.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ressente | (that) I feel | |
| tu | ressentes | (that) you feel | |
| il / elle / on | ressente | (that) he / she / it feelson: (that) we feel / one feels | |
| nous | ressentions | (that) we feel | |
| vous | ressentiez | (that) you feel | |
| ils / elles | ressentent | (that) they feel |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul ressente une grande joie.
It is possible that Paul feels great joy.
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 feel (an emotion, usually strongly)
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