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 call.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | téléphone | I call | |
| tu | téléphones | you call | |
| il / elle / on | téléphone | he / she / it callson: we call / one calls | |
| nous | téléphonons | we call | |
| vous | téléphonez | you call | |
| ils / elles | téléphonent | they call |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul téléphone à sa sœur.
Paul calls his sister.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai téléphoné | I called | |
| tu | as téléphoné | you called | |
| il / elle / on | a téléphoné | he / she / it calledon: we called / one called | |
| nous | avons téléphoné | we called | |
| vous | avez téléphoné | you called | |
| ils / elles | ont téléphoné | they called |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a téléphoné à sa sœur.
Yesterday, Paul called his sister.
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’ | téléphonais | I used to call | |
| tu | téléphonais | you used to call | |
| il / elle / on | téléphonait | he / she / it used to callon: we used to call / one used to call | |
| nous | téléphonions | we used to call | |
| vous | téléphoniez | you used to call | |
| ils / elles | téléphonaient | they used to call |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul téléphonait à sa sœur.
Back then, Paul used to call his sister.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | téléphonerai | I will call | |
| tu | téléphoneras | you will call | |
| il / elle / on | téléphonera | he / she / it will callon: we will call / one will call | |
| nous | téléphonerons | we will call | |
| vous | téléphonerez | you will call | |
| ils / elles | téléphoneront | they will call |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul téléphonera à sa sœur.
Later, Paul will call his sister.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | téléphonerais | I would call | |
| tu | téléphonerais | you would call | |
| il / elle / on | téléphonerait | he / she / it would callon: we would call / one would call | |
| nous | téléphonerions | we would call | |
| vous | téléphoneriez | you would call | |
| ils / elles | téléphoneraient | they would call |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul téléphonerait à sa sœur.
Paul would call his sister.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | téléphone | (that) I call | |
| tu | téléphones | (that) you call | |
| il / elle / on | téléphone | (that) he / she / it callson: (that) we call / one calls | |
| nous | téléphonions | (that) we call | |
| vous | téléphoniez | (that) you call | |
| ils / elles | téléphonent | (that) they call |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul téléphone à sa sœur.
It is possible that Paul calls his sister.
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 call, to ring, to telephone
- to telegraph, to communicate nonverbally, whether by gesture, a change in attitude, or any other sign, especially unintentionally.
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