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 serve.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | sers | I serve | |
| tu | sers | you serve | |
| il / elle / on | sert | he / she / it serveson: we serve / one serves | |
| nous | servons | we serve | |
| vous | servez | you serve | |
| ils / elles | servent | they serve |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul sert le repas aux invités.
Paul serves the meal to the guests.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai servi | I served | |
| tu | as servi | you served | |
| il / elle / on | a servi | he / she / it servedon: we served / one served | |
| nous | avons servi | we served | |
| vous | avez servi | you served | |
| ils / elles | ont servi | they served |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a servi le repas aux invités.
Yesterday, Paul served the meal to the guests.
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’ | servais | I used to serve | |
| tu | servais | you used to serve | |
| il / elle / on | servait | he / she / it used to serveon: we used to serve / one used to serve | |
| nous | servions | we used to serve | |
| vous | serviez | you used to serve | |
| ils / elles | servaient | they used to serve |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul servait le repas aux invités.
Back then, Paul used to serve the meal to the guests.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | servirai | I will serve | |
| tu | serviras | you will serve | |
| il / elle / on | servira | he / she / it will serveon: we will serve / one will serve | |
| nous | servirons | we will serve | |
| vous | servirez | you will serve | |
| ils / elles | serviront | they will serve |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul servira le repas aux invités.
Later, Paul will serve the meal to the guests.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | servirais | I would serve | |
| tu | servirais | you would serve | |
| il / elle / on | servirait | he / she / it would serveon: we would serve / one would serve | |
| nous | servirions | we would serve | |
| vous | serviriez | you would serve | |
| ils / elles | serviraient | they would serve |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul servirait le repas aux invités.
Paul would serve the meal to the guests.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | serve | (that) I serve | |
| tu | serves | (that) you serve | |
| il / elle / on | serve | (that) he / she / it serveson: (that) we serve / one serves | |
| nous | servions | (that) we serve | |
| vous | serviez | (that) you serve | |
| ils / elles | servent | (that) they serve |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul serve le repas aux invités.
It is possible that Paul serves the meal to the guests.
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 serve (to help in a shop; to bring a meal to someone)
- to be used for
- to be useful, to be of use, come in handy
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