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 deceive.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | trompe | I deceive | |
| tu | trompes | you deceive | |
| il / elle / on | trompe | he / she / it deceiveson: we deceive / one deceives | |
| nous | trompons | we deceive | |
| vous | trompez | you deceive | |
| ils / elles | trompent | they deceive |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul trompe son adversaire avec une ruse.
Paul deceives his opponent with a trick.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai trompé | I deceived | |
| tu | as trompé | you deceived | |
| il / elle / on | a trompé | he / she / it deceivedon: we deceived / one deceived | |
| nous | avons trompé | we deceived | |
| vous | avez trompé | you deceived | |
| ils / elles | ont trompé | they deceived |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a trompé son adversaire avec une ruse.
Yesterday, Paul deceived his opponent with a trick.
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’ | trompais | I used to deceive | |
| tu | trompais | you used to deceive | |
| il / elle / on | trompait | he / she / it used to deceiveon: we used to deceive / one used to deceive | |
| nous | trompions | we used to deceive | |
| vous | trompiez | you used to deceive | |
| ils / elles | trompaient | they used to deceive |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul trompait son adversaire avec une ruse.
Back then, Paul used to deceive his opponent with a trick.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | tromperai | I will deceive | |
| tu | tromperas | you will deceive | |
| il / elle / on | trompera | he / she / it will deceiveon: we will deceive / one will deceive | |
| nous | tromperons | we will deceive | |
| vous | tromperez | you will deceive | |
| ils / elles | tromperont | they will deceive |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul trompera son adversaire avec une ruse.
Later, Paul will deceive his opponent with a trick.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | tromperais | I would deceive | |
| tu | tromperais | you would deceive | |
| il / elle / on | tromperait | he / she / it would deceiveon: we would deceive / one would deceive | |
| nous | tromperions | we would deceive | |
| vous | tromperiez | you would deceive | |
| ils / elles | tromperaient | they would deceive |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul tromperait son adversaire avec une ruse.
Paul would deceive his opponent with a trick.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | trompe | (that) I deceive | |
| tu | trompes | (that) you deceive | |
| il / elle / on | trompe | (that) he / she / it deceiveson: (that) we deceive / one deceives | |
| nous | trompions | (that) we deceive | |
| vous | trompiez | (that) you deceive | |
| ils / elles | trompent | (that) they deceive |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul trompe son adversaire avec une ruse.
It is possible that Paul deceives his opponent with a trick.
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 deceive, lead astray, mislead
- to trick, dupe
- to cheat on one's significant other
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