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 hold.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | tiens | I hold | |
| tu | tiens | you hold | |
| il / elle / on | tient | he / she / it holdson: we hold / one holds | |
| nous | tenons | we hold | |
| vous | tenez | you hold | |
| ils / elles | tiennent | they hold |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul tient une tasse entre ses mains.
Paul holds a cup in his hands.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai tenu | I held | |
| tu | as tenu | you held | |
| il / elle / on | a tenu | he / she / it heldon: we held / one held | |
| nous | avons tenu | we held | |
| vous | avez tenu | you held | |
| ils / elles | ont tenu | they held |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a tenu une tasse entre ses mains.
Yesterday, Paul held a cup in his hands.
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’ | tenais | I used to hold | |
| tu | tenais | you used to hold | |
| il / elle / on | tenait | he / she / it used to holdon: we used to hold / one used to hold | |
| nous | tenions | we used to hold | |
| vous | teniez | you used to hold | |
| ils / elles | tenaient | they used to hold |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul tenait une tasse entre ses mains.
Back then, Paul used to hold a cup in his hands.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | tiendrai | I will hold | |
| tu | tiendras | you will hold | |
| il / elle / on | tiendra | he / she / it will holdon: we will hold / one will hold | |
| nous | tiendrons | we will hold | |
| vous | tiendrez | you will hold | |
| ils / elles | tiendront | they will hold |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul tiendra une tasse entre ses mains.
Later, Paul will hold a cup in his hands.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | tiendrais | I would hold | |
| tu | tiendrais | you would hold | |
| il / elle / on | tiendrait | he / she / it would holdon: we would hold / one would hold | |
| nous | tiendrions | we would hold | |
| vous | tiendriez | you would hold | |
| ils / elles | tiendraient | they would hold |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul tiendrait une tasse entre ses mains.
Paul would hold a cup in his hands.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | tienne | (that) I hold | |
| tu | tiennes | (that) you hold | |
| il / elle / on | tienne | (that) he / she / it holdson: (that) we hold / one holds | |
| nous | tenions | (that) we hold | |
| vous | teniez | (that) you hold | |
| ils / elles | tiennent | (that) they hold |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul tienne une tasse entre ses mains.
It is possible that Paul holds a cup in his hands.
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 have; to hold
- to keep
- to stay; to hold
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