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 live.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | vis | I live | |
| tu | vis | you live | |
| il / elle / on | vit | he / she / it liveson: we live / one lives | |
| nous | vivons | we live | |
| vous | vivez | you live | |
| ils / elles | vivent | they live |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul vit dans un petit village.
Paul lives in a small village.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai vécu | I lived | |
| tu | as vécu | you lived | |
| il / elle / on | a vécu | he / she / it livedon: we lived / one lived | |
| nous | avons vécu | we lived | |
| vous | avez vécu | you lived | |
| ils / elles | ont vécu | they lived |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a vécu dans un petit village.
Yesterday, Paul lived in a small village.
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’ | vivais | I lived | |
| tu | vivais | you lived | |
| il / elle / on | vivait | he / she / it livedon: we lived / one lived | |
| nous | vivions | we lived | |
| vous | viviez | you lived | |
| ils / elles | vivaient | they lived |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul vivait dans un petit village.
Back then, Paul lived in a small village.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | vivrai | I will live | |
| tu | vivras | you will live | |
| il / elle / on | vivra | he / she / it will liveon: we will live / one will live | |
| nous | vivrons | we will live | |
| vous | vivrez | you will live | |
| ils / elles | vivront | they will live |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul vivra dans un petit village.
Later, Paul will live in a small village.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | vivrais | I would live | |
| tu | vivrais | you would live | |
| il / elle / on | vivrait | he / she / it would liveon: we would live / one would live | |
| nous | vivrions | we would live | |
| vous | vivriez | you would live | |
| ils / elles | vivraient | they would live |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul vivrait dans un petit village.
Paul would live in a small village.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | vive | (that) I live | |
| tu | vives | (that) you live | |
| il / elle / on | vive | (that) he / she / it liveson: (that) we live / one lives | |
| nous | vivions | (that) we live | |
| vous | viviez | (that) you live | |
| ils / elles | vivent | (that) they live |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul vive dans un petit village.
It is possible that Paul lives in a small village.
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 live
- to experience
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