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 delay.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | tarde | I delay | |
| tu | tardes | you delay | |
| il / elle / on | tarde | he / she / it delayson: we delay / one delays | |
| nous | tardons | we delay | |
| vous | tardez | you delay | |
| ils / elles | tardent | they delay |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul tarde à répondre au message.
Paul delays replying to the message.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai tardé | I delayed | |
| tu | as tardé | you delayed | |
| il / elle / on | a tardé | he / she / it delayedon: we delayed / one delayed | |
| nous | avons tardé | we delayed | |
| vous | avez tardé | you delayed | |
| ils / elles | ont tardé | they delayed |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a tardé à répondre au message.
Yesterday, Paul delayed replying to the message.
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’ | tardais | I used to delay | |
| tu | tardais | you used to delay | |
| il / elle / on | tardait | he / she / it used to delayon: we used to delay / one used to delay | |
| nous | tardions | we used to delay | |
| vous | tardiez | you used to delay | |
| ils / elles | tardaient | they used to delay |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul tardait à répondre au message.
Back then, Paul used to delay replying to the message.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | tarderai | I will delay | |
| tu | tarderas | you will delay | |
| il / elle / on | tardera | he / she / it will delayon: we will delay / one will delay | |
| nous | tarderons | we will delay | |
| vous | tarderez | you will delay | |
| ils / elles | tarderont | they will delay |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul tardera à répondre au message.
Later, Paul will delay replying to the message.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | tarderais | I would delay | |
| tu | tarderais | you would delay | |
| il / elle / on | tarderait | he / she / it would delayon: we would delay / one would delay | |
| nous | tarderions | we would delay | |
| vous | tarderiez | you would delay | |
| ils / elles | tarderaient | they would delay |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul tarderait à répondre au message.
Paul would delay replying to the message.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | tarde | (that) I delay | |
| tu | tardes | (that) you delay | |
| il / elle / on | tarde | (that) he / she / it delayson: (that) we delay / one delays | |
| nous | tardions | (that) we delay | |
| vous | tardiez | (that) you delay | |
| ils / elles | tardent | (that) they delay |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul tarde à répondre au message.
It is possible that Paul delays replying to the message.
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 tarry
- to be slow to do something (tarder à faire quelque chose)
- Used as an impersonal verb with de or que to express impatience.
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