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 want.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | veux | I want | |
| tu | veux | you want | |
| il / elle / on | veut | he / she / it wantson: we want / one wants | |
| nous | voulons | we want | |
| vous | voulez | you want | |
| ils / elles | veulent | they want |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul veut apprendre le français.
Paul wants to learn French.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai voulu | I wanted | |
| tu | as voulu | you wanted | |
| il / elle / on | a voulu | he / she / it wantedon: we wanted / one wanted | |
| nous | avons voulu | we wanted | |
| vous | avez voulu | you wanted | |
| ils / elles | ont voulu | they wanted |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a voulu appeler son frère.
Yesterday, Paul wanted to call his brother.
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’ | voulais | I wanted | |
| tu | voulais | you wanted | |
| il / elle / on | voulait | he / she / it wantedon: we wanted / one wanted | |
| nous | voulions | we wanted | |
| vous | vouliez | you wanted | |
| ils / elles | voulaient | they wanted |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul voulait devenir professeur.
Back then, Paul wanted to become a teacher.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | voudrai | I will want | |
| tu | voudras | you will want | |
| il / elle / on | voudra | he / she / it will wanton: we will want / one will want | |
| nous | voudrons | we will want | |
| vous | voudrez | you will want | |
| ils / elles | voudront | they will want |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Après ce long voyage, Paul voudra se reposer.
After this long trip, Paul will want to rest.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | voudrais | I would want | |
| tu | voudrais | you would want | |
| il / elle / on | voudrait | he / she / it would wanton: we would want / one would want | |
| nous | voudrions | we would want | |
| vous | voudriez | you would want | |
| ils / elles | voudraient | they would want |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Si le musée était ouvert, Paul voudrait le visiter.
If the museum were open, Paul would want to visit it.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | veuille | (that) I want | |
| tu | veuilles | (that) you want | |
| il / elle / on | veuille | (that) he / she / it wantson: (that) we want / one wants | |
| nous | voulions | (that) we want | |
| vous | vouliez | (that) you want | |
| ils / elles | veuillent | (that) they want |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul veuille rentrer tôt.
Paul may want to go home early.
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 want, wish, desire
- to expect; to think; forms rhetorical questions, perhaps better translated to English by rephrasing with would or should
- to please do something
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