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 hold.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | retiens | I hold | |
| tu | retiens | you hold | |
| il / elle / on | retient | he / she / it holdson: we hold / one holds | |
| nous | retenons | we hold | |
| vous | retenez | you hold | |
| ils / elles | retiennent | they hold |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul retient la porte pour son voisin.
Paul holds the door for his neighbor.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai retenu | I held | |
| tu | as retenu | you held | |
| il / elle / on | a retenu | he / she / it heldon: we held / one held | |
| nous | avons retenu | we held | |
| vous | avez retenu | you held | |
| ils / elles | ont retenu | they held |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a retenu la porte pour son voisin.
Yesterday, Paul held the door for his neighbor.
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’ | retenais | I used to hold | |
| tu | retenais | you used to hold | |
| il / elle / on | retenait | he / she / it used to holdon: we used to hold / one used to hold | |
| nous | retenions | we used to hold | |
| vous | reteniez | you used to hold | |
| ils / elles | retenaient | they used to hold |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul retenait la porte pour son voisin.
Back then, Paul used to hold the door for his neighbor.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | retiendrai | I will hold | |
| tu | retiendras | you will hold | |
| il / elle / on | retiendra | he / she / it will holdon: we will hold / one will hold | |
| nous | retiendrons | we will hold | |
| vous | retiendrez | you will hold | |
| ils / elles | retiendront | they will hold |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul retiendra la porte pour son voisin.
Later, Paul will hold the door for his neighbor.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | retiendrais | I would hold | |
| tu | retiendrais | you would hold | |
| il / elle / on | retiendrait | he / she / it would holdon: we would hold / one would hold | |
| nous | retiendrions | we would hold | |
| vous | retiendriez | you would hold | |
| ils / elles | retiendraient | they would hold |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul retiendrait la porte pour son voisin.
Paul would hold the door for his neighbor.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | retienne | (that) I hold | |
| tu | retiennes | (that) you hold | |
| il / elle / on | retienne | (that) he / she / it holdson: (that) we hold / one holds | |
| nous | retenions | (that) we hold | |
| vous | reteniez | (that) you hold | |
| ils / elles | retiennent | (that) they hold |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul retienne la porte pour son voisin.
It is possible that Paul holds the door for his neighbor.
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 retain, hold
- to hold back, rein in
- to keep, detain, hold 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