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 smile.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | souris | I smile | |
| tu | souris | you smile | |
| il / elle / on | sourit | he / she / it smileson: we smile / one smiles | |
| nous | sourions | we smile | |
| vous | souriez | you smile | |
| ils / elles | sourient | they smile |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul sourit à son voisin.
Paul smiles at his neighbor.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai souri | I smiled | |
| tu | as souri | you smiled | |
| il / elle / on | a souri | he / she / it smiledon: we smiled / one smiled | |
| nous | avons souri | we smiled | |
| vous | avez souri | you smiled | |
| ils / elles | ont souri | they smiled |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a souri à son voisin.
Yesterday, Paul smiled at his neighbor.
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’ | souriais | I used to smile | |
| tu | souriais | you used to smile | |
| il / elle / on | souriait | he / she / it used to smileon: we used to smile / one used to smile | |
| nous | souriions | we used to smile | |
| vous | souriiez | you used to smile | |
| ils / elles | souriaient | they used to smile |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul souriait à son voisin.
Back then, Paul used to smile at his neighbor.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | sourirai | I will smile | |
| tu | souriras | you will smile | |
| il / elle / on | sourira | he / she / it will smileon: we will smile / one will smile | |
| nous | sourirons | we will smile | |
| vous | sourirez | you will smile | |
| ils / elles | souriront | they will smile |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul sourira à son voisin.
Later, Paul will smile at his neighbor.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | sourirais | I would smile | |
| tu | sourirais | you would smile | |
| il / elle / on | sourirait | he / she / it would smileon: we would smile / one would smile | |
| nous | souririons | we would smile | |
| vous | souririez | you would smile | |
| ils / elles | souriraient | they would smile |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul sourirait à son voisin.
Paul would smile at his neighbor.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | sourie | (that) I smile | |
| tu | souries | (that) you smile | |
| il / elle / on | sourie | (that) he / she / it smileson: (that) we smile / one smiles | |
| nous | souriions | (that) we smile | |
| vous | souriiez | (that) you smile | |
| ils / elles | sourient | (that) they smile |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul sourie à son voisin.
It is possible that Paul smiles at his neighbor.
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 smile
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