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 find.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | trouve | I find | |
| tu | trouves | you find | |
| il / elle / on | trouve | he / she / it findson: we find / one finds | |
| nous | trouvons | we find | |
| vous | trouvez | you find | |
| ils / elles | trouvent | they find |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul trouve une place près de la fenêtre.
Paul finds a seat near the window.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai trouvé | I found | |
| tu | as trouvé | you found | |
| il / elle / on | a trouvé | he / she / it foundon: we found / one found | |
| nous | avons trouvé | we found | |
| vous | avez trouvé | you found | |
| ils / elles | ont trouvé | they found |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a trouvé une place près de la fenêtre.
Yesterday, Paul found a seat near the window.
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’ | trouvais | I used to find | |
| tu | trouvais | you used to find | |
| il / elle / on | trouvait | he / she / it used to findon: we used to find / one used to find | |
| nous | trouvions | we used to find | |
| vous | trouviez | you used to find | |
| ils / elles | trouvaient | they used to find |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul trouvait une place près de la fenêtre.
Back then, Paul used to find a seat near the window.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | trouverai | I will find | |
| tu | trouveras | you will find | |
| il / elle / on | trouvera | he / she / it will findon: we will find / one will find | |
| nous | trouverons | we will find | |
| vous | trouverez | you will find | |
| ils / elles | trouveront | they will find |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul trouvera une place près de la fenêtre.
Later, Paul will find a seat near the window.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | trouverais | I would find | |
| tu | trouverais | you would find | |
| il / elle / on | trouverait | he / she / it would findon: we would find / one would find | |
| nous | trouverions | we would find | |
| vous | trouveriez | you would find | |
| ils / elles | trouveraient | they would find |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul trouverait une place près de la fenêtre.
Paul would find a seat near the window.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | trouve | (that) I find | |
| tu | trouves | (that) you find | |
| il / elle / on | trouve | (that) he / she / it findson: (that) we find / one finds | |
| nous | trouvions | (that) we find | |
| vous | trouviez | (that) you find | |
| ils / elles | trouvent | (that) they find |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul trouve une place près de la fenêtre.
It is possible that Paul finds a seat near the window.
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 find; to retrieve something lost, turn up something hidden, or encounter something previously unknown to one
- to find (something to be the case); to think or consider (something to be so)
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