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 wish.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | souhaite | I wish | |
| tu | souhaites | you wish | |
| il / elle / on | souhaite | he / she / it wisheson: we wish / one wishes | |
| nous | souhaitons | we wish | |
| vous | souhaitez | you wish | |
| ils / elles | souhaitent | they wish |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul souhaite un bon voyage à ses amis.
Paul wishes his friends a good trip.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai souhaité | I wished | |
| tu | as souhaité | you wished | |
| il / elle / on | a souhaité | he / she / it wishedon: we wished / one wished | |
| nous | avons souhaité | we wished | |
| vous | avez souhaité | you wished | |
| ils / elles | ont souhaité | they wished |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a souhaité un bon voyage à ses amis.
Yesterday, Paul wished his friends a good trip.
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’ | souhaitais | I used to wish | |
| tu | souhaitais | you used to wish | |
| il / elle / on | souhaitait | he / she / it used to wishon: we used to wish / one used to wish | |
| nous | souhaitions | we used to wish | |
| vous | souhaitiez | you used to wish | |
| ils / elles | souhaitaient | they used to wish |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul souhaitait un bon voyage à ses amis.
Back then, Paul used to wish his friends a good trip.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | souhaiterai | I will wish | |
| tu | souhaiteras | you will wish | |
| il / elle / on | souhaitera | he / she / it will wishon: we will wish / one will wish | |
| nous | souhaiterons | we will wish | |
| vous | souhaiterez | you will wish | |
| ils / elles | souhaiteront | they will wish |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul souhaitera un bon voyage à ses amis.
Later, Paul will wish his friends a good trip.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | souhaiterais | I would wish | |
| tu | souhaiterais | you would wish | |
| il / elle / on | souhaiterait | he / she / it would wishon: we would wish / one would wish | |
| nous | souhaiterions | we would wish | |
| vous | souhaiteriez | you would wish | |
| ils / elles | souhaiteraient | they would wish |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul souhaiterait un bon voyage à ses amis.
Paul would wish his friends a good trip.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | souhaite | (that) I wish | |
| tu | souhaites | (that) you wish | |
| il / elle / on | souhaite | (that) he / she / it wisheson: (that) we wish / one wishes | |
| nous | souhaitions | (that) we wish | |
| vous | souhaitiez | (that) you wish | |
| ils / elles | souhaitent | (that) they wish |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul souhaite un bon voyage à ses amis.
It is possible that Paul wishes his friends a good trip.
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 wish; to hope
- to wish (for); to hope (for)
- to wish someone well, particularly in a complimentary or polite way
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