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 greet.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | salue | I greet | |
| tu | salues | you greet | |
| il / elle / on | salue | he / she / it greetson: we greet / one greets | |
| nous | saluons | we greet | |
| vous | saluez | you greet | |
| ils / elles | saluent | they greet |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul salue ses voisins en sortant.
Paul greets his neighbours while going out.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai salué | I greeted | |
| tu | as salué | you greeted | |
| il / elle / on | a salué | he / she / it greetedon: we greeted / one greeted | |
| nous | avons salué | we greeted | |
| vous | avez salué | you greeted | |
| ils / elles | ont salué | they greeted |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a salué ses voisins en sortant.
Yesterday, Paul greeted his neighbours while going out.
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’ | saluais | I used to greet | |
| tu | saluais | you used to greet | |
| il / elle / on | saluait | he / she / it used to greeton: we used to greet / one used to greet | |
| nous | saluions | we used to greet | |
| vous | saluiez | you used to greet | |
| ils / elles | saluaient | they used to greet |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul saluait ses voisins en sortant.
Back then, Paul used to greet his neighbours while going out.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | saluerai | I will greet | |
| tu | salueras | you will greet | |
| il / elle / on | saluera | he / she / it will greeton: we will greet / one will greet | |
| nous | saluerons | we will greet | |
| vous | saluerez | you will greet | |
| ils / elles | salueront | they will greet |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul saluera ses voisins en sortant.
Later, Paul will greet his neighbours while going out.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | saluerais | I would greet | |
| tu | saluerais | you would greet | |
| il / elle / on | saluerait | he / she / it would greeton: we would greet / one would greet | |
| nous | saluerions | we would greet | |
| vous | salueriez | you would greet | |
| ils / elles | salueraient | they would greet |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul saluerait ses voisins en sortant.
Paul would greet his neighbours while going out.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | salue | (that) I greet | |
| tu | salues | (that) you greet | |
| il / elle / on | salue | (that) he / she / it greetson: (that) we greet / one greets | |
| nous | saluions | (that) we greet | |
| vous | saluiez | (that) you greet | |
| ils / elles | saluent | (that) they greet |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul salue ses voisins en sortant.
It is possible that Paul greets his neighbours while going out.
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 greet
- to wave to (as a greeting)
- to say goodbye to
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