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 come back.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | reviens | I come back | |
| tu | reviens | you come back | |
| il / elle / on | revient | he / she / it comes backon: we come back / one comes back | |
| nous | revenons | we come back | |
| vous | revenez | you come back | |
| ils / elles | reviennent | they come back |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul revient au village.
Paul comes back to the village.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | suis revenu / suis revenue | I came back | |
| tu | es revenu / es revenue | you came back | |
| il / elle / on | est revenu / est revenue | he / she / it came backon: we came back / one came back | |
| nous | sommes revenus / sommes revenues | we came back | |
| vous | êtes revenu / êtes revenue / êtes revenus / êtes revenues | you came back | |
| ils / elles | sont revenus / sont revenues | they came back |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul est revenu au village.
Yesterday, Paul came back to the village.
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’ | revenais | I used to come back | |
| tu | revenais | you used to come back | |
| il / elle / on | revenait | he / she / it used to come backon: we used to come back / one used to come back | |
| nous | revenions | we used to come back | |
| vous | reveniez | you used to come back | |
| ils / elles | revenaient | they used to come back |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul revenait au village.
Back then, Paul used to come back to the village.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | reviendrai | I will come back | |
| tu | reviendras | you will come back | |
| il / elle / on | reviendra | he / she / it will come backon: we will come back / one will come back | |
| nous | reviendrons | we will come back | |
| vous | reviendrez | you will come back | |
| ils / elles | reviendront | they will come back |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul reviendra au village.
Later, Paul will come back to the village.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | reviendrais | I would come back | |
| tu | reviendrais | you would come back | |
| il / elle / on | reviendrait | he / she / it would come backon: we would come back / one would come back | |
| nous | reviendrions | we would come back | |
| vous | reviendriez | you would come back | |
| ils / elles | reviendraient | they would come back |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul reviendrait au village.
Paul would come back to the village.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | revienne | (that) I come back | |
| tu | reviennes | (that) you come back | |
| il / elle / on | revienne | (that) he / she / it comes backon: (that) we come back / one comes back | |
| nous | revenions | (that) we come back | |
| vous | reveniez | (that) you come back | |
| ils / elles | reviennent | (that) they come back |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul revienne au village.
It is possible that Paul comes back to the village.
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 come back, to return
- to grow back
- to recur, to be mentioned repeatedly
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