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 surf.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | surfe | I surf | |
| tu | surfes | you surf | |
| il / elle / on | surfe | he / she / it surfson: we surf / one surfs | |
| nous | surfons | we surf | |
| vous | surfez | you surf | |
| ils / elles | surfent | they surf |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul surfe sur les vagues près de la plage.
Paul surfs on the waves near the beach.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai surfé | I surfed | |
| tu | as surfé | you surfed | |
| il / elle / on | a surfé | he / she / it surfedon: we surfed / one surfed | |
| nous | avons surfé | we surfed | |
| vous | avez surfé | you surfed | |
| ils / elles | ont surfé | they surfed |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a surfé sur les vagues près de la plage.
Yesterday, Paul surfed on the waves near the beach.
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’ | surfais | I used to surf | |
| tu | surfais | you used to surf | |
| il / elle / on | surfait | he / she / it used to surfon: we used to surf / one used to surf | |
| nous | surfions | we used to surf | |
| vous | surfiez | you used to surf | |
| ils / elles | surfaient | they used to surf |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul surfait sur les vagues près de la plage.
Back then, Paul used to surf on the waves near the beach.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | surferai | I will surf | |
| tu | surferas | you will surf | |
| il / elle / on | surfera | he / she / it will surfon: we will surf / one will surf | |
| nous | surferons | we will surf | |
| vous | surferez | you will surf | |
| ils / elles | surferont | they will surf |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul surfera sur les vagues près de la plage.
Later, Paul will surf on the waves near the beach.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | surferais | I would surf | |
| tu | surferais | you would surf | |
| il / elle / on | surferait | he / she / it would surfon: we would surf / one would surf | |
| nous | surferions | we would surf | |
| vous | surferiez | you would surf | |
| ils / elles | surferaient | they would surf |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul surferait sur les vagues près de la plage.
Paul would surf on the waves near the beach.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | surfe | (that) I surf | |
| tu | surfes | (that) you surf | |
| il / elle / on | surfe | (that) he / she / it surfson: (that) we surf / one surfs | |
| nous | surfions | (that) we surf | |
| vous | surfiez | (that) you surf | |
| ils / elles | surfent | (that) they surf |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul surfe sur les vagues près de la plage.
It is possible that Paul surfs on the waves near the beach.
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 surf (on a wave)
- to surf (to browse the internet)
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