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 laugh.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ris | I laugh | |
| tu | ris | you laugh | |
| il / elle / on | rit | he / she / it laughson: we laugh / one laughs | |
| nous | rions | we laugh | |
| vous | riez | you laugh | |
| ils / elles | rient | they laugh |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul rit avec ses amis.
Paul laughs with his friends.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai ri | I laughed | |
| tu | as ri | you laughed | |
| il / elle / on | a ri | he / she / it laughedon: we laughed / one laughed | |
| nous | avons ri | we laughed | |
| vous | avez ri | you laughed | |
| ils / elles | ont ri | they laughed |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a ri avec ses amis.
Yesterday, Paul laughed with his friends.
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’ | riais | I used to laugh | |
| tu | riais | you used to laugh | |
| il / elle / on | riait | he / she / it used to laughon: we used to laugh / one used to laugh | |
| nous | riions | we used to laugh | |
| vous | riiez | you used to laugh | |
| ils / elles | riaient | they used to laugh |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul riait avec ses amis.
Back then, Paul used to laugh with his friends.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | rirai | I will laugh | |
| tu | riras | you will laugh | |
| il / elle / on | rira | he / she / it will laughon: we will laugh / one will laugh | |
| nous | rirons | we will laugh | |
| vous | rirez | you will laugh | |
| ils / elles | riront | they will laugh |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul rira avec ses amis.
Later, Paul will laugh with his friends.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | rirais | I would laugh | |
| tu | rirais | you would laugh | |
| il / elle / on | rirait | he / she / it would laughon: we would laugh / one would laugh | |
| nous | ririons | we would laugh | |
| vous | ririez | you would laugh | |
| ils / elles | riraient | they would laugh |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul rirait avec ses amis.
Paul would laugh with his friends.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | rie | (that) I laugh | |
| tu | ries | (that) you laugh | |
| il / elle / on | rie | (that) he / she / it laughson: (that) we laugh / one laughs | |
| nous | riions | (that) we laugh | |
| vous | riiez | (that) you laugh | |
| ils / elles | rient | (that) they laugh |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul rie avec ses amis.
It is possible that Paul laughs with his friends.
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 laugh
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