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 sell.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | vends | I sell | |
| tu | vends | you sell | |
| il / elle / on | vend | he / she / it sellson: we sell / one sells | |
| nous | vendons | we sell | |
| vous | vendez | you sell | |
| ils / elles | vendent | they sell |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul vend son ancien vélo.
Paul sells his old bicycle.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai vendu | I sold | |
| tu | as vendu | you sold | |
| il / elle / on | a vendu | he / she / it soldon: we sold / one sold | |
| nous | avons vendu | we sold | |
| vous | avez vendu | you sold | |
| ils / elles | ont vendu | they sold |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a vendu son ancien vélo.
Yesterday, Paul sold his old bicycle.
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’ | vendais | I used to sell | |
| tu | vendais | you used to sell | |
| il / elle / on | vendait | he / she / it used to sellon: we used to sell / one used to sell | |
| nous | vendions | we used to sell | |
| vous | vendiez | you used to sell | |
| ils / elles | vendaient | they used to sell |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul vendait son ancien vélo.
Back then, Paul used to sell his old bicycle.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | vendrai | I will sell | |
| tu | vendras | you will sell | |
| il / elle / on | vendra | he / she / it will sellon: we will sell / one will sell | |
| nous | vendrons | we will sell | |
| vous | vendrez | you will sell | |
| ils / elles | vendront | they will sell |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul vendra son ancien vélo.
Later, Paul will sell his old bicycle.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | vendrais | I would sell | |
| tu | vendrais | you would sell | |
| il / elle / on | vendrait | he / she / it would sellon: we would sell / one would sell | |
| nous | vendrions | we would sell | |
| vous | vendriez | you would sell | |
| ils / elles | vendraient | they would sell |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul vendrait son ancien vélo.
Paul would sell his old bicycle.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | vende | (that) I sell | |
| tu | vendes | (that) you sell | |
| il / elle / on | vende | (that) he / she / it sellson: (that) we sell / one sells | |
| nous | vendions | (that) we sell | |
| vous | vendiez | (that) you sell | |
| ils / elles | vendent | (that) they sell |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul vende son ancien vélo.
It is possible that Paul sells his old bicycle.
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 sell
- to sell out (betray)
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