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 smell.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | sens | I smell | |
| tu | sens | you smell | |
| il / elle / on | sent | he / she / it smellson: we smell / one smells | |
| nous | sentons | we smell | |
| vous | sentez | you smell | |
| ils / elles | sentent | they smell |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Le savon sent la lavande.
The soap smells of lavender.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai senti | I smelled | |
| tu | as senti | you smelled | |
| il / elle / on | a senti | he / she / it smelledon: we smelled / one smelled | |
| nous | avons senti | we smelled | |
| vous | avez senti | you smelled | |
| ils / elles | ont senti | they smelled |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, le savon a senti la lavande.
Yesterday, the soap smelled of lavender.
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’ | sentais | I smelled | |
| tu | sentais | you smelled | |
| il / elle / on | sentait | he / she / it smelledon: we smelled / one smelled | |
| nous | sentions | we smelled | |
| vous | sentiez | you smelled | |
| ils / elles | sentaient | they smelled |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, le savon sentait la lavande.
Back then, the soap smelled of lavender.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | sentirai | I will smell | |
| tu | sentiras | you will smell | |
| il / elle / on | sentira | he / she / it will smellon: we will smell / one will smell | |
| nous | sentirons | we will smell | |
| vous | sentirez | you will smell | |
| ils / elles | sentiront | they will smell |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, le savon sentira la lavande.
Later, the soap will smell of lavender.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | sentirais | I would smell | |
| tu | sentirais | you would smell | |
| il / elle / on | sentirait | he / she / it would smellon: we would smell / one would smell | |
| nous | sentirions | we would smell | |
| vous | sentiriez | you would smell | |
| ils / elles | sentiraient | they would smell |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Le savon sentirait la lavande.
The soap would smell of lavender.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | sente | (that) I smell | |
| tu | sentes | (that) you smell | |
| il / elle / on | sente | (that) he / she / it smellson: (that) we smell / one smells | |
| nous | sentions | (that) we smell | |
| vous | sentiez | (that) you smell | |
| ils / elles | sentent | (that) they smell |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que le savon sente la lavande.
It is possible that the soap smells of lavender.
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 smell (to have a certain odor)
- to smell
- to sense, feel (physical perception)
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