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 suffer.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | souffre | I suffer | |
| tu | souffres | you suffer | |
| il / elle / on | souffre | he / she / it sufferson: we suffer / one suffers | |
| nous | souffrons | we suffer | |
| vous | souffrez | you suffer | |
| ils / elles | souffrent | they suffer |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul souffre du froid.
Paul suffers from the cold.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai souffert | I suffered | |
| tu | as souffert | you suffered | |
| il / elle / on | a souffert | he / she / it sufferedon: we suffered / one suffered | |
| nous | avons souffert | we suffered | |
| vous | avez souffert | you suffered | |
| ils / elles | ont souffert | they suffered |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a souffert du froid.
Yesterday, Paul suffered from the cold.
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’ | souffrais | I used to suffer | |
| tu | souffrais | you used to suffer | |
| il / elle / on | souffrait | he / she / it used to sufferon: we used to suffer / one used to suffer | |
| nous | souffrions | we used to suffer | |
| vous | souffriez | you used to suffer | |
| ils / elles | souffraient | they used to suffer |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul souffrait du froid.
Back then, Paul used to suffer from the cold.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | souffrirai | I will suffer | |
| tu | souffriras | you will suffer | |
| il / elle / on | souffrira | he / she / it will sufferon: we will suffer / one will suffer | |
| nous | souffrirons | we will suffer | |
| vous | souffrirez | you will suffer | |
| ils / elles | souffriront | they will suffer |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul souffrira du froid.
Later, Paul will suffer from the cold.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | souffrirais | I would suffer | |
| tu | souffrirais | you would suffer | |
| il / elle / on | souffrirait | he / she / it would sufferon: we would suffer / one would suffer | |
| nous | souffririons | we would suffer | |
| vous | souffririez | you would suffer | |
| ils / elles | souffriraient | they would suffer |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul souffrirait du froid.
Paul would suffer from the cold.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | souffre | (that) I suffer | |
| tu | souffres | (that) you suffer | |
| il / elle / on | souffre | (that) he / she / it sufferson: (that) we suffer / one suffers | |
| nous | souffrions | (that) we suffer | |
| vous | souffriez | (that) you suffer | |
| ils / elles | souffrent | (that) they suffer |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul souffre du froid.
It is possible that Paul suffers from the cold.
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 suffer
- to endure
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