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 think.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | songe | I think | |
| tu | songes | you think | |
| il / elle / on | songe | he / she / it thinkson: we think / one thinks | |
| nous | songeons | we think | |
| vous | songez | you think | |
| ils / elles | songent | they think |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul songe à ses prochaines vacances.
Paul thinks about his next vacation.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai songé | I thought | |
| tu | as songé | you thought | |
| il / elle / on | a songé | he / she / it thoughton: we thought / one thought | |
| nous | avons songé | we thought | |
| vous | avez songé | you thought | |
| ils / elles | ont songé | they thought |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a songé à ses prochaines vacances.
Yesterday, Paul thought about his next vacation.
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’ | songeais | I used to think | |
| tu | songeais | you used to think | |
| il / elle / on | songeait | he / she / it used to thinkon: we used to think / one used to think | |
| nous | songions | we used to think | |
| vous | songiez | you used to think | |
| ils / elles | songeaient | they used to think |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul songeait à ses prochaines vacances.
Back then, Paul used to think about his next vacation.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | songerai | I will think | |
| tu | songeras | you will think | |
| il / elle / on | songera | he / she / it will thinkon: we will think / one will think | |
| nous | songerons | we will think | |
| vous | songerez | you will think | |
| ils / elles | songeront | they will think |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul songera à ses prochaines vacances.
Later, Paul will think about his next vacation.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | songerais | I would think | |
| tu | songerais | you would think | |
| il / elle / on | songerait | he / she / it would thinkon: we would think / one would think | |
| nous | songerions | we would think | |
| vous | songeriez | you would think | |
| ils / elles | songeraient | they would think |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul songerait à ses prochaines vacances.
Paul would think about his next vacation.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | songe | (that) I think | |
| tu | songes | (that) you think | |
| il / elle / on | songe | (that) he / she / it thinkson: (that) we think / one thinks | |
| nous | songions | (that) we think | |
| vous | songiez | (that) you think | |
| ils / elles | songent | (that) they think |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul songe à ses prochaines vacances.
It is possible that Paul thinks about his next vacation.
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 think about; to dream
- to think (about), consider (that)
- to ponder, to imagine, to consider
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