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 jump.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | saute | I jump | |
| tu | sautes | you jump | |
| il / elle / on | saute | he / she / it jumpson: we jump / one jumps | |
| nous | sautons | we jump | |
| vous | sautez | you jump | |
| ils / elles | sautent | they jump |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul saute par-dessus une flaque.
Paul jumps over a puddle.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai sauté | I jumped | |
| tu | as sauté | you jumped | |
| il / elle / on | a sauté | he / she / it jumpedon: we jumped / one jumped | |
| nous | avons sauté | we jumped | |
| vous | avez sauté | you jumped | |
| ils / elles | ont sauté | they jumped |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a sauté par-dessus une flaque.
Yesterday, Paul jumped over a puddle.
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’ | sautais | I used to jump | |
| tu | sautais | you used to jump | |
| il / elle / on | sautait | he / she / it used to jumpon: we used to jump / one used to jump | |
| nous | sautions | we used to jump | |
| vous | sautiez | you used to jump | |
| ils / elles | sautaient | they used to jump |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul sautait par-dessus une flaque.
Back then, Paul used to jump over a puddle.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | sauterai | I will jump | |
| tu | sauteras | you will jump | |
| il / elle / on | sautera | he / she / it will jumpon: we will jump / one will jump | |
| nous | sauterons | we will jump | |
| vous | sauterez | you will jump | |
| ils / elles | sauteront | they will jump |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul sautera par-dessus une flaque.
Later, Paul will jump over a puddle.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | sauterais | I would jump | |
| tu | sauterais | you would jump | |
| il / elle / on | sauterait | he / she / it would jumpon: we would jump / one would jump | |
| nous | sauterions | we would jump | |
| vous | sauteriez | you would jump | |
| ils / elles | sauteraient | they would jump |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul sauterait par-dessus une flaque.
Paul would jump over a puddle.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | saute | (that) I jump | |
| tu | sautes | (that) you jump | |
| il / elle / on | saute | (that) he / she / it jumpson: (that) we jump / one jumps | |
| nous | sautions | (that) we jump | |
| vous | sautiez | (that) you jump | |
| ils / elles | sautent | (that) they jump |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul saute par-dessus une flaque.
It is possible that Paul jumps over a puddle.
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 jump, leap
- to jump over
- to sauté
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