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 finish.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | termine | I finish | |
| tu | termines | you finish | |
| il / elle / on | termine | he / she / it finisheson: we finish / one finishes | |
| nous | terminons | we finish | |
| vous | terminez | you finish | |
| ils / elles | terminent | they finish |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul termine la lecture du livre.
Paul finishes reading the book.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai terminé | I finished | |
| tu | as terminé | you finished | |
| il / elle / on | a terminé | he / she / it finishedon: we finished / one finished | |
| nous | avons terminé | we finished | |
| vous | avez terminé | you finished | |
| ils / elles | ont terminé | they finished |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a terminé la lecture du livre.
Yesterday, Paul finished reading the book.
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’ | terminais | I used to finish | |
| tu | terminais | you used to finish | |
| il / elle / on | terminait | he / she / it used to finishon: we used to finish / one used to finish | |
| nous | terminions | we used to finish | |
| vous | terminiez | you used to finish | |
| ils / elles | terminaient | they used to finish |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul terminait la lecture du livre.
Back then, Paul used to finish reading the book.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | terminerai | I will finish | |
| tu | termineras | you will finish | |
| il / elle / on | terminera | he / she / it will finishon: we will finish / one will finish | |
| nous | terminerons | we will finish | |
| vous | terminerez | you will finish | |
| ils / elles | termineront | they will finish |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul terminera la lecture du livre.
Later, Paul will finish reading the book.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | terminerais | I would finish | |
| tu | terminerais | you would finish | |
| il / elle / on | terminerait | he / she / it would finishon: we would finish / one would finish | |
| nous | terminerions | we would finish | |
| vous | termineriez | you would finish | |
| ils / elles | termineraient | they would finish |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul terminerait la lecture du livre.
Paul would finish reading the book.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | termine | (that) I finish | |
| tu | termines | (that) you finish | |
| il / elle / on | termine | (that) he / she / it finisheson: (that) we finish / one finishes | |
| nous | terminions | (that) we finish | |
| vous | terminiez | (that) you finish | |
| ils / elles | terminent | (that) they finish |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul termine la lecture du livre.
It is possible that Paul finishes reading the book.
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 end; to finish; to terminate
- to end, to bring to an end, to finish
- to end, to finish, to complete, to conclude
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