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 cross.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | traverse | I cross | |
| tu | traverses | you cross | |
| il / elle / on | traverse | he / she / it crosseson: we cross / one crosses | |
| nous | traversons | we cross | |
| vous | traversez | you cross | |
| ils / elles | traversent | they cross |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul traverse le pont à pied.
Paul crosses the bridge on foot.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai traversé | I crossed | |
| tu | as traversé | you crossed | |
| il / elle / on | a traversé | he / she / it crossedon: we crossed / one crossed | |
| nous | avons traversé | we crossed | |
| vous | avez traversé | you crossed | |
| ils / elles | ont traversé | they crossed |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a traversé le pont à pied.
Yesterday, Paul crossed the bridge on foot.
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’ | traversais | I used to cross | |
| tu | traversais | you used to cross | |
| il / elle / on | traversait | he / she / it used to crosson: we used to cross / one used to cross | |
| nous | traversions | we used to cross | |
| vous | traversiez | you used to cross | |
| ils / elles | traversaient | they used to cross |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul traversait le pont à pied.
Back then, Paul used to cross the bridge on foot.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | traverserai | I will cross | |
| tu | traverseras | you will cross | |
| il / elle / on | traversera | he / she / it will crosson: we will cross / one will cross | |
| nous | traverserons | we will cross | |
| vous | traverserez | you will cross | |
| ils / elles | traverseront | they will cross |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul traversera le pont à pied.
Later, Paul will cross the bridge on foot.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | traverserais | I would cross | |
| tu | traverserais | you would cross | |
| il / elle / on | traverserait | he / she / it would crosson: we would cross / one would cross | |
| nous | traverserions | we would cross | |
| vous | traverseriez | you would cross | |
| ils / elles | traverseraient | they would cross |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul traverserait le pont à pied.
Paul would cross the bridge on foot.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | traverse | (that) I cross | |
| tu | traverses | (that) you cross | |
| il / elle / on | traverse | (that) he / she / it crosseson: (that) we cross / one crosses | |
| nous | traversions | (that) we cross | |
| vous | traversiez | (that) you cross | |
| ils / elles | traversent | (that) they cross |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul traverse le pont à pied.
It is possible that Paul crosses the bridge on foot.
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 cross, to go across
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