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 come.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | viens | I come | |
| tu | viens | you come | |
| il / elle / on | vient | he / she / it comeson: we come / one comes | |
| nous | venons | we come | |
| vous | venez | you come | |
| ils / elles | viennent | they come |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul vient au marché avec nous.
Paul comes to the market with us.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | suis venu / suis venue | I came | |
| tu | es venu / es venue | you came | |
| il / elle / on | est venu / est venue | he / she / it cameon: we came / one came | |
| nous | sommes venus / sommes venues | we came | |
| vous | êtes venu / êtes venue / êtes venus / êtes venues | you came | |
| ils / elles | sont venus / sont venues | they came |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul est venu au marché avec nous.
Yesterday, Paul came to the market with us.
With être, the participle agrees with the subject: feminine -e, plural -s. The table gives masculine and feminine alternatives; vous may be singular or plural. With on meaning we, plural agreement is also possible.
Back to tense navigation ↑Imperfect Imparfait
Past habits, descriptions, and actions in progress.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | venais | I used to come | |
| tu | venais | you used to come | |
| il / elle / on | venait | he / she / it used to comeon: we used to come / one used to come | |
| nous | venions | we used to come | |
| vous | veniez | you used to come | |
| ils / elles | venaient | they used to come |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul venait au marché avec nous.
Back then, Paul used to come to the market with us.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | viendrai | I will come | |
| tu | viendras | you will come | |
| il / elle / on | viendra | he / she / it will comeon: we will come / one will come | |
| nous | viendrons | we will come | |
| vous | viendrez | you will come | |
| ils / elles | viendront | they will come |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul viendra au marché avec nous.
Later, Paul will come to the market with us.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | viendrais | I would come | |
| tu | viendrais | you would come | |
| il / elle / on | viendrait | he / she / it would comeon: we would come / one would come | |
| nous | viendrions | we would come | |
| vous | viendriez | you would come | |
| ils / elles | viendraient | they would come |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul viendrait au marché avec nous.
Paul would come to the market with us.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | vienne | (that) I come | |
| tu | viennes | (that) you come | |
| il / elle / on | vienne | (that) he / she / it comeson: (that) we come / one comes | |
| nous | venions | (that) we come | |
| vous | veniez | (that) you come | |
| ils / elles | viennent | (that) they come |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul vienne au marché avec nous.
It is possible that Paul comes to the market with us.
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 come (to move from one place to another that is nearer the speaker)
- used in venir de with the meaning of "originate from" or "have just done"
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