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 delay.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | retarde | I delay | |
| tu | retardes | you delay | |
| il / elle / on | retarde | he / she / it delayson: we delay / one delays | |
| nous | retardons | we delay | |
| vous | retardez | you delay | |
| ils / elles | retardent | they delay |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Le brouillard retarde le départ de l'avion.
The fog delays the plane's departure.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai retardé | I delayed | |
| tu | as retardé | you delayed | |
| il / elle / on | a retardé | he / she / it delayedon: we delayed / one delayed | |
| nous | avons retardé | we delayed | |
| vous | avez retardé | you delayed | |
| ils / elles | ont retardé | they delayed |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, le brouillard a retardé le départ de l'avion.
Yesterday, the fog delayed the plane's departure.
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’ | retardais | I used to delay | |
| tu | retardais | you used to delay | |
| il / elle / on | retardait | he / she / it used to delayon: we used to delay / one used to delay | |
| nous | retardions | we used to delay | |
| vous | retardiez | you used to delay | |
| ils / elles | retardaient | they used to delay |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, le brouillard retardait le départ de l'avion.
Back then, the fog used to delay the plane's departure.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | retarderai | I will delay | |
| tu | retarderas | you will delay | |
| il / elle / on | retardera | he / she / it will delayon: we will delay / one will delay | |
| nous | retarderons | we will delay | |
| vous | retarderez | you will delay | |
| ils / elles | retarderont | they will delay |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, le brouillard retardera le départ de l'avion.
Later, the fog will delay the plane's departure.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | retarderais | I would delay | |
| tu | retarderais | you would delay | |
| il / elle / on | retarderait | he / she / it would delayon: we would delay / one would delay | |
| nous | retarderions | we would delay | |
| vous | retarderiez | you would delay | |
| ils / elles | retarderaient | they would delay |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Le brouillard retarderait le départ de l'avion.
The fog would delay the plane's departure.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | retarde | (that) I delay | |
| tu | retardes | (that) you delay | |
| il / elle / on | retarde | (that) he / she / it delayson: (that) we delay / one delays | |
| nous | retardions | (that) we delay | |
| vous | retardiez | (that) you delay | |
| ils / elles | retardent | (that) they delay |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que le brouillard retarde le départ de l'avion.
It is possible that the fog delays the plane's departure.
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 retard, slow down
- to postpone, put back
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