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 turn.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | tourne | I turn | |
| tu | tournes | you turn | |
| il / elle / on | tourne | he / she / it turnson: we turn / one turns | |
| nous | tournons | we turn | |
| vous | tournez | you turn | |
| ils / elles | tournent | they turn |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul tourne à droite au carrefour.
Paul turns right at the crossroads.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai tourné | I turned | |
| tu | as tourné | you turned | |
| il / elle / on | a tourné | he / she / it turnedon: we turned / one turned | |
| nous | avons tourné | we turned | |
| vous | avez tourné | you turned | |
| ils / elles | ont tourné | they turned |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a tourné à droite au carrefour.
Yesterday, Paul turned right at the crossroads.
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’ | tournais | I used to turn | |
| tu | tournais | you used to turn | |
| il / elle / on | tournait | he / she / it used to turnon: we used to turn / one used to turn | |
| nous | tournions | we used to turn | |
| vous | tourniez | you used to turn | |
| ils / elles | tournaient | they used to turn |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul tournait à droite au carrefour.
Back then, Paul used to turn right at the crossroads.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | tournerai | I will turn | |
| tu | tourneras | you will turn | |
| il / elle / on | tournera | he / she / it will turnon: we will turn / one will turn | |
| nous | tournerons | we will turn | |
| vous | tournerez | you will turn | |
| ils / elles | tourneront | they will turn |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul tournera à droite au carrefour.
Later, Paul will turn right at the crossroads.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | tournerais | I would turn | |
| tu | tournerais | you would turn | |
| il / elle / on | tournerait | he / she / it would turnon: we would turn / one would turn | |
| nous | tournerions | we would turn | |
| vous | tourneriez | you would turn | |
| ils / elles | tourneraient | they would turn |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul tournerait à droite au carrefour.
Paul would turn right at the crossroads.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | tourne | (that) I turn | |
| tu | tournes | (that) you turn | |
| il / elle / on | tourne | (that) he / she / it turnson: (that) we turn / one turns | |
| nous | tournions | (that) we turn | |
| vous | tourniez | (that) you turn | |
| ils / elles | tournent | (that) they turn |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul tourne à droite au carrefour.
It is possible that Paul turns right at the crossroads.
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 turn; to change (direction); to rotate; to spin
- to go around; to circle (something)
- to revolve around; to orbit (a celestial body)
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