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 tighten.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | tends | I tighten | |
| tu | tends | you tighten | |
| il / elle / on | tend | he / she / it tightenson: we tighten / one tightens | |
| nous | tendons | we tighten | |
| vous | tendez | you tighten | |
| ils / elles | tendent | they tighten |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul tend la corde entre les deux arbres.
Paul tightens the rope between the two trees.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai tendu | I tightened | |
| tu | as tendu | you tightened | |
| il / elle / on | a tendu | he / she / it tightenedon: we tightened / one tightened | |
| nous | avons tendu | we tightened | |
| vous | avez tendu | you tightened | |
| ils / elles | ont tendu | they tightened |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a tendu la corde entre les deux arbres.
Yesterday, Paul tightened the rope between the two trees.
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’ | tendais | I used to tighten | |
| tu | tendais | you used to tighten | |
| il / elle / on | tendait | he / she / it used to tightenon: we used to tighten / one used to tighten | |
| nous | tendions | we used to tighten | |
| vous | tendiez | you used to tighten | |
| ils / elles | tendaient | they used to tighten |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul tendait la corde entre les deux arbres.
Back then, Paul used to tighten the rope between the two trees.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | tendrai | I will tighten | |
| tu | tendras | you will tighten | |
| il / elle / on | tendra | he / she / it will tightenon: we will tighten / one will tighten | |
| nous | tendrons | we will tighten | |
| vous | tendrez | you will tighten | |
| ils / elles | tendront | they will tighten |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul tendra la corde entre les deux arbres.
Later, Paul will tighten the rope between the two trees.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | tendrais | I would tighten | |
| tu | tendrais | you would tighten | |
| il / elle / on | tendrait | he / she / it would tightenon: we would tighten / one would tighten | |
| nous | tendrions | we would tighten | |
| vous | tendriez | you would tighten | |
| ils / elles | tendraient | they would tighten |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul tendrait la corde entre les deux arbres.
Paul would tighten the rope between the two trees.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | tende | (that) I tighten | |
| tu | tendes | (that) you tighten | |
| il / elle / on | tende | (that) he / she / it tightenson: (that) we tighten / one tightens | |
| nous | tendions | (that) we tighten | |
| vous | tendiez | (that) you tighten | |
| ils / elles | tendent | (that) they tighten |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul tende la corde entre les deux arbres.
It is possible that Paul tightens the rope between the two trees.
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 tighten
- to stretch out
- to hand
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