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 go out.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | sors | I go out | |
| tu | sors | you go out | |
| il / elle / on | sort | he / she / it goes outon: we go out / one goes out | |
| nous | sortons | we go out | |
| vous | sortez | you go out | |
| ils / elles | sortent | they go out |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul sort avec ses amis.
Paul goes out with his friends.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | suis sorti / suis sortie | I went out | |
| tu | es sorti / es sortie | you went out | |
| il / elle / on | est sorti / est sortie | he / she / it went outon: we went out / one went out | |
| nous | sommes sortis / sommes sorties | we went out | |
| vous | êtes sorti / êtes sortie / êtes sortis / êtes sorties | you went out | |
| ils / elles | sont sortis / sont sorties | they went out |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul est sorti avec ses amis.
Yesterday, Paul went out with his friends.
The passé composé shown is the intransitive motion use with être. With a direct object, this verb can use avoir; check the meaning in context. With être, the participle agrees with the subject: feminine -e, plural -s. The table gives masculine and feminine alternatives; vous may be singular or plural. With on meaning we, plural agreement is also possible.
Back to tense navigation ↑Imperfect Imparfait
Past habits, descriptions, and actions in progress.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | sortais | I used to go out | |
| tu | sortais | you used to go out | |
| il / elle / on | sortait | he / she / it used to go outon: we used to go out / one used to go out | |
| nous | sortions | we used to go out | |
| vous | sortiez | you used to go out | |
| ils / elles | sortaient | they used to go out |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul sortait avec ses amis.
Back then, Paul used to go out with his friends.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | sortirai | I will go out | |
| tu | sortiras | you will go out | |
| il / elle / on | sortira | he / she / it will go outon: we will go out / one will go out | |
| nous | sortirons | we will go out | |
| vous | sortirez | you will go out | |
| ils / elles | sortiront | they will go out |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul sortira avec ses amis.
Later, Paul will go out with his friends.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | sortirais | I would go out | |
| tu | sortirais | you would go out | |
| il / elle / on | sortirait | he / she / it would go outon: we would go out / one would go out | |
| nous | sortirions | we would go out | |
| vous | sortiriez | you would go out | |
| ils / elles | sortiraient | they would go out |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul sortirait avec ses amis.
Paul would go out with his friends.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | sorte | (that) I go out | |
| tu | sortes | (that) you go out | |
| il / elle / on | sorte | (that) he / she / it goes outon: (that) we go out / one goes out | |
| nous | sortions | (that) we go out | |
| vous | sortiez | (that) you go out | |
| ils / elles | sortent | (that) they go out |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul sorte avec ses amis.
It is possible that Paul goes out with his friends.
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 exit, go out, come out
- to take out, bring out
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