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 fly.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | vole | I fly | |
| tu | voles | you fly | |
| il / elle / on | vole | he / she / it flieson: we fly / one flies | |
| nous | volons | we fly | |
| vous | volez | you fly | |
| ils / elles | volent | they fly |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul vole dans un petit avion.
Paul flies in a small plane.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai volé | I flew | |
| tu | as volé | you flew | |
| il / elle / on | a volé | he / she / it flewon: we flew / one flew | |
| nous | avons volé | we flew | |
| vous | avez volé | you flew | |
| ils / elles | ont volé | they flew |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a volé dans un petit avion.
Yesterday, Paul flew in a small plane.
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’ | volais | I used to fly | |
| tu | volais | you used to fly | |
| il / elle / on | volait | he / she / it used to flyon: we used to fly / one used to fly | |
| nous | volions | we used to fly | |
| vous | voliez | you used to fly | |
| ils / elles | volaient | they used to fly |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul volait dans un petit avion.
Back then, Paul used to fly in a small plane.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | volerai | I will fly | |
| tu | voleras | you will fly | |
| il / elle / on | volera | he / she / it will flyon: we will fly / one will fly | |
| nous | volerons | we will fly | |
| vous | volerez | you will fly | |
| ils / elles | voleront | they will fly |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul volera dans un petit avion.
Later, Paul will fly in a small plane.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | volerais | I would fly | |
| tu | volerais | you would fly | |
| il / elle / on | volerait | he / she / it would flyon: we would fly / one would fly | |
| nous | volerions | we would fly | |
| vous | voleriez | you would fly | |
| ils / elles | voleraient | they would fly |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul volerait dans un petit avion.
Paul would fly in a small plane.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | vole | (that) I fly | |
| tu | voles | (that) you fly | |
| il / elle / on | vole | (that) he / she / it flieson: (that) we fly / one flies | |
| nous | volions | (that) we fly | |
| vous | voliez | (that) you fly | |
| ils / elles | volent | (that) they fly |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul vole dans un petit avion.
It is possible that Paul flies in a small plane.
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 fly through the air
- to pursue flying
- to scarper, flee
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