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 treat.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | traite | I treat | |
| tu | traites | you treat | |
| il / elle / on | traite | he / she / it treatson: we treat / one treats | |
| nous | traitons | we treat | |
| vous | traitez | you treat | |
| ils / elles | traitent | they treat |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul traite ses voisins avec respect.
Paul treats his neighbors with respect.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai traité | I treated | |
| tu | as traité | you treated | |
| il / elle / on | a traité | he / she / it treatedon: we treated / one treated | |
| nous | avons traité | we treated | |
| vous | avez traité | you treated | |
| ils / elles | ont traité | they treated |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a traité ses voisins avec respect.
Yesterday, Paul treated his neighbors with respect.
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’ | traitais | I used to treat | |
| tu | traitais | you used to treat | |
| il / elle / on | traitait | he / she / it used to treaton: we used to treat / one used to treat | |
| nous | traitions | we used to treat | |
| vous | traitiez | you used to treat | |
| ils / elles | traitaient | they used to treat |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul traitait ses voisins avec respect.
Back then, Paul used to treat his neighbors with respect.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | traiterai | I will treat | |
| tu | traiteras | you will treat | |
| il / elle / on | traitera | he / she / it will treaton: we will treat / one will treat | |
| nous | traiterons | we will treat | |
| vous | traiterez | you will treat | |
| ils / elles | traiteront | they will treat |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul traitera ses voisins avec respect.
Later, Paul will treat his neighbors with respect.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | traiterais | I would treat | |
| tu | traiterais | you would treat | |
| il / elle / on | traiterait | he / she / it would treaton: we would treat / one would treat | |
| nous | traiterions | we would treat | |
| vous | traiteriez | you would treat | |
| ils / elles | traiteraient | they would treat |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul traiterait ses voisins avec respect.
Paul would treat his neighbors with respect.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | traite | (that) I treat | |
| tu | traites | (that) you treat | |
| il / elle / on | traite | (that) he / she / it treatson: (that) we treat / one treats | |
| nous | traitions | (that) we treat | |
| vous | traitiez | (that) you treat | |
| ils / elles | traitent | (that) they treat |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul traite ses voisins avec respect.
It is possible that Paul treats his neighbors with respect.
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 treat (someone) (a particular way)
- to render treatment (usually medical)
- to process, spray, coat
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