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 attempt.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | tente | I attempt | |
| tu | tentes | you attempt | |
| il / elle / on | tente | he / she / it attemptson: we attempt / one attempts | |
| nous | tentons | we attempt | |
| vous | tentez | you attempt | |
| ils / elles | tentent | they attempt |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul tente une nouvelle expérience.
Paul attempts a new experiment.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai tenté | I attempted | |
| tu | as tenté | you attempted | |
| il / elle / on | a tenté | he / she / it attemptedon: we attempted / one attempted | |
| nous | avons tenté | we attempted | |
| vous | avez tenté | you attempted | |
| ils / elles | ont tenté | they attempted |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a tenté une nouvelle expérience.
Yesterday, Paul attempted a new experiment.
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’ | tentais | I used to attempt | |
| tu | tentais | you used to attempt | |
| il / elle / on | tentait | he / she / it used to attempton: we used to attempt / one used to attempt | |
| nous | tentions | we used to attempt | |
| vous | tentiez | you used to attempt | |
| ils / elles | tentaient | they used to attempt |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul tentait une nouvelle expérience.
Back then, Paul used to attempt a new experiment.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | tenterai | I will attempt | |
| tu | tenteras | you will attempt | |
| il / elle / on | tentera | he / she / it will attempton: we will attempt / one will attempt | |
| nous | tenterons | we will attempt | |
| vous | tenterez | you will attempt | |
| ils / elles | tenteront | they will attempt |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul tentera une nouvelle expérience.
Later, Paul will attempt a new experiment.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | tenterais | I would attempt | |
| tu | tenterais | you would attempt | |
| il / elle / on | tenterait | he / she / it would attempton: we would attempt / one would attempt | |
| nous | tenterions | we would attempt | |
| vous | tenteriez | you would attempt | |
| ils / elles | tenteraient | they would attempt |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul tenterait une nouvelle expérience.
Paul would attempt a new experiment.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | tente | (that) I attempt | |
| tu | tentes | (that) you attempt | |
| il / elle / on | tente | (that) he / she / it attemptson: (that) we attempt / one attempts | |
| nous | tentions | (that) we attempt | |
| vous | tentiez | (that) you attempt | |
| ils / elles | tentent | (that) they attempt |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul tente une nouvelle expérience.
It is possible that Paul attempts a new experiment.
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 attempt
- to tempt
- to be desirable or interesting to; to be something one feels like doing
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