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 compete.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | rivalise | I compete | |
| tu | rivalises | you compete | |
| il / elle / on | rivalise | he / she / it competeson: we compete / one competes | |
| nous | rivalisons | we compete | |
| vous | rivalisez | you compete | |
| ils / elles | rivalisent | they compete |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul rivalise avec les meilleurs joueurs.
Paul competes with the best players.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai rivalisé | I competed | |
| tu | as rivalisé | you competed | |
| il / elle / on | a rivalisé | he / she / it competedon: we competed / one competed | |
| nous | avons rivalisé | we competed | |
| vous | avez rivalisé | you competed | |
| ils / elles | ont rivalisé | they competed |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a rivalisé avec les meilleurs joueurs.
Yesterday, Paul competed with the best players.
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’ | rivalisais | I used to compete | |
| tu | rivalisais | you used to compete | |
| il / elle / on | rivalisait | he / she / it used to competeon: we used to compete / one used to compete | |
| nous | rivalisions | we used to compete | |
| vous | rivalisiez | you used to compete | |
| ils / elles | rivalisaient | they used to compete |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul rivalisait avec les meilleurs joueurs.
Back then, Paul used to compete with the best players.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | rivaliserai | I will compete | |
| tu | rivaliseras | you will compete | |
| il / elle / on | rivalisera | he / she / it will competeon: we will compete / one will compete | |
| nous | rivaliserons | we will compete | |
| vous | rivaliserez | you will compete | |
| ils / elles | rivaliseront | they will compete |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul rivalisera avec les meilleurs joueurs.
Later, Paul will compete with the best players.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | rivaliserais | I would compete | |
| tu | rivaliserais | you would compete | |
| il / elle / on | rivaliserait | he / she / it would competeon: we would compete / one would compete | |
| nous | rivaliserions | we would compete | |
| vous | rivaliseriez | you would compete | |
| ils / elles | rivaliseraient | they would compete |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul rivaliserait avec les meilleurs joueurs.
Paul would compete with the best players.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | rivalise | (that) I compete | |
| tu | rivalises | (that) you compete | |
| il / elle / on | rivalise | (that) he / she / it competeson: (that) we compete / one competes | |
| nous | rivalisions | (that) we compete | |
| vous | rivalisiez | (that) you compete | |
| ils / elles | rivalisent | (that) they compete |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul rivalise avec les meilleurs joueurs.
It is possible that Paul competes with the best players.
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 compete
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