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 break.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | romps | I break | |
| tu | romps | you break | |
| il / elle / on | rompt | he / she / it breakson: we break / one breaks | |
| nous | rompons | we break | |
| vous | rompez | you break | |
| ils / elles | rompent | they break |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul rompt le silence avec une question.
Paul breaks the silence with a question.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai rompu | I broke | |
| tu | as rompu | you broke | |
| il / elle / on | a rompu | he / she / it brokeon: we broke / one broke | |
| nous | avons rompu | we broke | |
| vous | avez rompu | you broke | |
| ils / elles | ont rompu | they broke |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a rompu le silence avec une question.
Yesterday, Paul broke the silence with a question.
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’ | rompais | I used to break | |
| tu | rompais | you used to break | |
| il / elle / on | rompait | he / she / it used to breakon: we used to break / one used to break | |
| nous | rompions | we used to break | |
| vous | rompiez | you used to break | |
| ils / elles | rompaient | they used to break |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul rompait le silence avec une question.
Back then, Paul used to break the silence with a question.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | romprai | I will break | |
| tu | rompras | you will break | |
| il / elle / on | rompra | he / she / it will breakon: we will break / one will break | |
| nous | romprons | we will break | |
| vous | romprez | you will break | |
| ils / elles | rompront | they will break |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul rompra le silence avec une question.
Later, Paul will break the silence with a question.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | romprais | I would break | |
| tu | romprais | you would break | |
| il / elle / on | romprait | he / she / it would breakon: we would break / one would break | |
| nous | romprions | we would break | |
| vous | rompriez | you would break | |
| ils / elles | rompraient | they would break |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul romprait le silence avec une question.
Paul would break the silence with a question.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | rompe | (that) I break | |
| tu | rompes | (that) you break | |
| il / elle / on | rompe | (that) he / she / it breakson: (that) we break / one breaks | |
| nous | rompions | (that) we break | |
| vous | rompiez | (that) you break | |
| ils / elles | rompent | (that) they break |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul rompe le silence avec une question.
It is possible that Paul breaks the silence with a question.
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 stop, to block, to interrupt
- to break up (with someone)
- to break
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