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 survive.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | survis | I survive | |
| tu | survis | you survive | |
| il / elle / on | survit | he / she / it surviveson: we survive / one survives | |
| nous | survivons | we survive | |
| vous | survivez | you survive | |
| ils / elles | survivent | they survive |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul survit à cette épreuve difficile.
Paul survives this difficult ordeal.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai survécu | I survived | |
| tu | as survécu | you survived | |
| il / elle / on | a survécu | he / she / it survivedon: we survived / one survived | |
| nous | avons survécu | we survived | |
| vous | avez survécu | you survived | |
| ils / elles | ont survécu | they survived |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a survécu à cette épreuve difficile.
Yesterday, Paul survived this difficult ordeal.
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’ | survivais | I used to survive | |
| tu | survivais | you used to survive | |
| il / elle / on | survivait | he / she / it used to surviveon: we used to survive / one used to survive | |
| nous | survivions | we used to survive | |
| vous | surviviez | you used to survive | |
| ils / elles | survivaient | they used to survive |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul survivait à cette épreuve difficile.
Back then, Paul used to survive this difficult ordeal.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | survivrai | I will survive | |
| tu | survivras | you will survive | |
| il / elle / on | survivra | he / she / it will surviveon: we will survive / one will survive | |
| nous | survivrons | we will survive | |
| vous | survivrez | you will survive | |
| ils / elles | survivront | they will survive |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul survivra à cette épreuve difficile.
Later, Paul will survive this difficult ordeal.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | survivrais | I would survive | |
| tu | survivrais | you would survive | |
| il / elle / on | survivrait | he / she / it would surviveon: we would survive / one would survive | |
| nous | survivrions | we would survive | |
| vous | survivriez | you would survive | |
| ils / elles | survivraient | they would survive |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul survivrait à cette épreuve difficile.
Paul would survive this difficult ordeal.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | survive | (that) I survive | |
| tu | survives | (that) you survive | |
| il / elle / on | survive | (that) he / she / it surviveson: (that) we survive / one survives | |
| nous | survivions | (that) we survive | |
| vous | surviviez | (that) you survive | |
| ils / elles | survivent | (that) they survive |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul survive à cette épreuve difficile.
It is possible that Paul survives this difficult ordeal.
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 survive
- to outlive
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