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 summarise.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | résume | I summarise | |
| tu | résumes | you summarise | |
| il / elle / on | résume | he / she / it summariseson: we summarise / one summarises | |
| nous | résumons | we summarise | |
| vous | résumez | you summarise | |
| ils / elles | résument | they summarise |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul résume le chapitre en quelques phrases.
Paul summarises the chapter in a few sentences.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai résumé | I summarised | |
| tu | as résumé | you summarised | |
| il / elle / on | a résumé | he / she / it summarisedon: we summarised / one summarised | |
| nous | avons résumé | we summarised | |
| vous | avez résumé | you summarised | |
| ils / elles | ont résumé | they summarised |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a résumé le chapitre en quelques phrases.
Yesterday, Paul summarised the chapter in a few sentences.
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’ | résumais | I used to summarise | |
| tu | résumais | you used to summarise | |
| il / elle / on | résumait | he / she / it used to summariseon: we used to summarise / one used to summarise | |
| nous | résumions | we used to summarise | |
| vous | résumiez | you used to summarise | |
| ils / elles | résumaient | they used to summarise |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul résumait le chapitre en quelques phrases.
Back then, Paul used to summarise the chapter in a few sentences.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | résumerai | I will summarise | |
| tu | résumeras | you will summarise | |
| il / elle / on | résumera | he / she / it will summariseon: we will summarise / one will summarise | |
| nous | résumerons | we will summarise | |
| vous | résumerez | you will summarise | |
| ils / elles | résumeront | they will summarise |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul résumera le chapitre en quelques phrases.
Later, Paul will summarise the chapter in a few sentences.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | résumerais | I would summarise | |
| tu | résumerais | you would summarise | |
| il / elle / on | résumerait | he / she / it would summariseon: we would summarise / one would summarise | |
| nous | résumerions | we would summarise | |
| vous | résumeriez | you would summarise | |
| ils / elles | résumeraient | they would summarise |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul résumerait le chapitre en quelques phrases.
Paul would summarise the chapter in a few sentences.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | résume | (that) I summarise | |
| tu | résumes | (that) you summarise | |
| il / elle / on | résume | (that) he / she / it summariseson: (that) we summarise / one summarises | |
| nous | résumions | (that) we summarise | |
| vous | résumiez | (that) you summarise | |
| ils / elles | résument | (that) they summarise |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul résume le chapitre en quelques phrases.
It is possible that Paul summarises the chapter in a few sentences.
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 summarize, to sum up
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