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 work.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | travaille | I work | |
| tu | travailles | you work | |
| il / elle / on | travaille | he / she / it workson: we work / one works | |
| nous | travaillons | we work | |
| vous | travaillez | you work | |
| ils / elles | travaillent | they work |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul travaille dans une librairie.
Paul works in a bookshop.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai travaillé | I worked | |
| tu | as travaillé | you worked | |
| il / elle / on | a travaillé | he / she / it workedon: we worked / one worked | |
| nous | avons travaillé | we worked | |
| vous | avez travaillé | you worked | |
| ils / elles | ont travaillé | they worked |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a travaillé dans une librairie.
Yesterday, Paul worked in a bookshop.
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’ | travaillais | I used to work | |
| tu | travaillais | you used to work | |
| il / elle / on | travaillait | he / she / it used to workon: we used to work / one used to work | |
| nous | travaillions | we used to work | |
| vous | travailliez | you used to work | |
| ils / elles | travaillaient | they used to work |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul travaillait dans une librairie.
Back then, Paul used to work in a bookshop.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | travaillerai | I will work | |
| tu | travailleras | you will work | |
| il / elle / on | travaillera | he / she / it will workon: we will work / one will work | |
| nous | travaillerons | we will work | |
| vous | travaillerez | you will work | |
| ils / elles | travailleront | they will work |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul travaillera dans une librairie.
Later, Paul will work in a bookshop.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | travaillerais | I would work | |
| tu | travaillerais | you would work | |
| il / elle / on | travaillerait | he / she / it would workon: we would work / one would work | |
| nous | travaillerions | we would work | |
| vous | travailleriez | you would work | |
| ils / elles | travailleraient | they would work |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul travaillerait dans une librairie.
Paul would work in a bookshop.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | travaille | (that) I work | |
| tu | travailles | (that) you work | |
| il / elle / on | travaille | (that) he / she / it workson: (that) we work / one works | |
| nous | travaillions | (that) we work | |
| vous | travailliez | (that) you work | |
| ils / elles | travaillent | (that) they work |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul travaille dans une librairie.
It is possible that Paul works in a bookshop.
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 work
- to study
- to struggle
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