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 stay.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | reste | I stay | |
| tu | restes | you stay | |
| il / elle / on | reste | he / she / it stayson: we stay / one stays | |
| nous | restons | we stay | |
| vous | restez | you stay | |
| ils / elles | restent | they stay |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul reste à la maison.
Paul stays at home.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | suis resté / suis restée | I stayed | |
| tu | es resté / es restée | you stayed | |
| il / elle / on | est resté / est restée | he / she / it stayedon: we stayed / one stayed | |
| nous | sommes restés / sommes restées | we stayed | |
| vous | êtes resté / êtes restée / êtes restés / êtes restées | you stayed | |
| ils / elles | sont restés / sont restées | they stayed |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul est resté à la maison.
Yesterday, Paul stayed at home.
With être, the participle agrees with the subject: feminine -e, plural -s. The table gives masculine and feminine alternatives; vous may be singular or plural. With on meaning we, plural agreement is also possible.
Back to tense navigation ↑Imperfect Imparfait
Past habits, descriptions, and actions in progress.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | restais | I used to stay | |
| tu | restais | you used to stay | |
| il / elle / on | restait | he / she / it used to stayon: we used to stay / one used to stay | |
| nous | restions | we used to stay | |
| vous | restiez | you used to stay | |
| ils / elles | restaient | they used to stay |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul restait à la maison.
Back then, Paul used to stay at home.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | resterai | I will stay | |
| tu | resteras | you will stay | |
| il / elle / on | restera | he / she / it will stayon: we will stay / one will stay | |
| nous | resterons | we will stay | |
| vous | resterez | you will stay | |
| ils / elles | resteront | they will stay |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul restera à la maison.
Later, Paul will stay at home.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | resterais | I would stay | |
| tu | resterais | you would stay | |
| il / elle / on | resterait | he / she / it would stayon: we would stay / one would stay | |
| nous | resterions | we would stay | |
| vous | resteriez | you would stay | |
| ils / elles | resteraient | they would stay |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul resterait à la maison.
Paul would stay at home.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | reste | (that) I stay | |
| tu | restes | (that) you stay | |
| il / elle / on | reste | (that) he / she / it stayson: (that) we stay / one stays | |
| nous | restions | (that) we stay | |
| vous | restiez | (that) you stay | |
| ils / elles | restent | (that) they stay |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul reste à la maison.
It is possible that Paul stays at home.
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 stay
- to remain, be left over
- to stay, to remain (to continue to have a particular quality)
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