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 fall.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | tombe | I fall | |
| tu | tombes | you fall | |
| il / elle / on | tombe | he / she / it fallson: we fall / one falls | |
| nous | tombons | we fall | |
| vous | tombez | you fall | |
| ils / elles | tombent | they fall |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul tombe dans la neige.
Paul falls into the snow.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | suis tombé / suis tombée | I fell | |
| tu | es tombé / es tombée | you fell | |
| il / elle / on | est tombé / est tombée | he / she / it fellon: we fell / one fell | |
| nous | sommes tombés / sommes tombées | we fell | |
| vous | êtes tombé / êtes tombée / êtes tombés / êtes tombées | you fell | |
| ils / elles | sont tombés / sont tombées | they fell |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul est tombé dans la neige.
Yesterday, Paul fell into the snow.
This table uses être for the ordinary intransitive meaning. Older or specialized uses with avoir are outside this reference. With être, the participle agrees with the subject: feminine -e, plural -s. The table gives masculine and feminine alternatives; vous may be singular or plural. With on meaning we, plural agreement is also possible.
Back to tense navigation ↑Imperfect Imparfait
Past habits, descriptions, and actions in progress.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | tombais | I used to fall | |
| tu | tombais | you used to fall | |
| il / elle / on | tombait | he / she / it used to fallon: we used to fall / one used to fall | |
| nous | tombions | we used to fall | |
| vous | tombiez | you used to fall | |
| ils / elles | tombaient | they used to fall |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul tombait dans la neige.
Back then, Paul used to fall into the snow.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | tomberai | I will fall | |
| tu | tomberas | you will fall | |
| il / elle / on | tombera | he / she / it will fallon: we will fall / one will fall | |
| nous | tomberons | we will fall | |
| vous | tomberez | you will fall | |
| ils / elles | tomberont | they will fall |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul tombera dans la neige.
Later, Paul will fall into the snow.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | tomberais | I would fall | |
| tu | tomberais | you would fall | |
| il / elle / on | tomberait | he / she / it would fallon: we would fall / one would fall | |
| nous | tomberions | we would fall | |
| vous | tomberiez | you would fall | |
| ils / elles | tomberaient | they would fall |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul tomberait dans la neige.
Paul would fall into the snow.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | tombe | (that) I fall | |
| tu | tombes | (that) you fall | |
| il / elle / on | tombe | (that) he / she / it fallson: (that) we fall / one falls | |
| nous | tombions | (that) we fall | |
| vous | tombiez | (that) you fall | |
| ils / elles | tombent | (that) they fall |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul tombe dans la neige.
It is possible that Paul falls into the snow.
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 fall
- to come down
- to bump into, to come across; to be received by (when making a telephone call)
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