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 vary.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | varie | I vary | |
| tu | varies | you vary | |
| il / elle / on | varie | he / she / it varieson: we vary / one varies | |
| nous | varions | we vary | |
| vous | variez | you vary | |
| ils / elles | varient | they vary |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul varie les exercices pendant la séance.
Paul varies the exercises during the session.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai varié | I varied | |
| tu | as varié | you varied | |
| il / elle / on | a varié | he / she / it variedon: we varied / one varied | |
| nous | avons varié | we varied | |
| vous | avez varié | you varied | |
| ils / elles | ont varié | they varied |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a varié les exercices pendant la séance.
Yesterday, Paul varied the exercises during the session.
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’ | variais | I used to vary | |
| tu | variais | you used to vary | |
| il / elle / on | variait | he / she / it used to varyon: we used to vary / one used to vary | |
| nous | variions | we used to vary | |
| vous | variiez | you used to vary | |
| ils / elles | variaient | they used to vary |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul variait les exercices pendant la séance.
Back then, Paul used to vary the exercises during the session.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | varierai | I will vary | |
| tu | varieras | you will vary | |
| il / elle / on | variera | he / she / it will varyon: we will vary / one will vary | |
| nous | varierons | we will vary | |
| vous | varierez | you will vary | |
| ils / elles | varieront | they will vary |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul variera les exercices pendant la séance.
Later, Paul will vary the exercises during the session.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | varierais | I would vary | |
| tu | varierais | you would vary | |
| il / elle / on | varierait | he / she / it would varyon: we would vary / one would vary | |
| nous | varierions | we would vary | |
| vous | varieriez | you would vary | |
| ils / elles | varieraient | they would vary |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul varierait les exercices pendant la séance.
Paul would vary the exercises during the session.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | varie | (that) I vary | |
| tu | varies | (that) you vary | |
| il / elle / on | varie | (that) he / she / it varieson: (that) we vary / one varies | |
| nous | variions | (that) we vary | |
| vous | variiez | (that) you vary | |
| ils / elles | varient | (that) they vary |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul varie les exercices pendant la séance.
It is possible that Paul varies the exercises during the session.
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 vary
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