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 get up.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | me lève | I get up | |
| tu | te lèves | you get up | |
| il / elle / on | se lève | he / she / it gets upon: we get up / one gets up | |
| nous | nous levons | we get up | |
| vous | vous levez | you get up | |
| ils / elles | se lèvent | they get up |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul se lève à sept heures.
Paul gets up at seven o'clock.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | me suis levé / me suis levée | I got up | |
| tu | t'es levé / t'es levée | you got up | |
| il / elle / on | s'est levé / s'est levée | he / she / it got upon: we got up / one got up | |
| nous | nous sommes levés / nous sommes levées | we got up | |
| vous | vous êtes levé / vous êtes levée / vous êtes levés / vous êtes levées | you got up | |
| ils / elles | se sont levés / se sont levées | they got up |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul s'est levé à sept heures.
Yesterday, Paul got up at seven o'clock.
This pronominal use includes the reflexive pronoun in each form. Its passé composé uses être, with subject agreement in the meaning shown. Vous may be formal singular or plural. Other pronominal constructions can have different agreement rules.
Back to tense navigation ↑Imperfect Imparfait
Past habits, descriptions, and actions in progress.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | me levais | I used to get up | |
| tu | te levais | you used to get up | |
| il / elle / on | se levait | he / she / it used to get upon: we used to get up / one used to get up | |
| nous | nous levions | we used to get up | |
| vous | vous leviez | you used to get up | |
| ils / elles | se levaient | they used to get up |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul se levait à sept heures.
Back then, Paul used to get up at seven o'clock.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | me lèverai | I will get up | |
| tu | te lèveras | you will get up | |
| il / elle / on | se lèvera | he / she / it will get upon: we will get up / one will get up | |
| nous | nous lèverons | we will get up | |
| vous | vous lèverez | you will get up | |
| ils / elles | se lèveront | they will get up |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul se lèvera à sept heures.
Later, Paul will get up at seven o'clock.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | me lèverais | I would get up | |
| tu | te lèverais | you would get up | |
| il / elle / on | se lèverait | he / she / it would get upon: we would get up / one would get up | |
| nous | nous lèverions | we would get up | |
| vous | vous lèveriez | you would get up | |
| ils / elles | se lèveraient | they would get up |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul se lèverait à sept heures.
Paul would get up at seven o'clock.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | me lève | (that) I get up | |
| tu | te lèves | (that) you get up | |
| il / elle / on | se lève | (that) he / she / it gets upon: (that) we get up / one gets up | |
| nous | nous levions | (that) we get up | |
| vous | vous leviez | (that) you get up | |
| ils / elles | se lèvent | (that) they get up |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul se lève à sept heures.
It is possible that Paul gets up at seven o'clock.
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 get up (out of bed); to stand up
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