Conjunation

French verb conjugation

2,470 French verbs with full conjugation tables — every tense and pronoun.

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Most common French verbs

  1. concilier to reconcile
  2. être to be
  3. avoir to have
  4. manier to handle.
  5. dérober to steal
  6. dévaler to run down
  7. faire to do/make
  8. aboutir to result in
  9. dire to say
  10. dévisser to unscrew
  11. pouvoir to be able to
  12. surgir to arise
  13. aller to go
  14. entêter to confuse
  15. soupirer to sigh
  16. voir to see
  17. aspirer to aspire (to wait, to long)
  18. vouloir to want
  19. estropier to damage
  20. gémir to moan; to groan
  21. venir to come
  22. vider to empty.
  23. devoir to have to
  24. grillager to grill
  25. mépriser to despise
  26. axer to axis
  27. prendre to take
  28. jaser to chat, to gossip
  29. respecter to respect
  30. trouver to find
  31. donner to give
  32. peiner to comb
  33. repartir to depart again
  34. falloir to be necessary (il faut: one must)
  35. tailler to cut
  36. parler to speak
  37. réconcilier to reconcile
  38. mettre to put
  39. prêcher to preach
  40. échouer to fail
  41. savoir to know (facts, how to)
  42. épargner to save (to set aside money or resources)
  43. déplorer to deplore
  44. passer to pass
  45. prospérer to prosper
  46. ramer to row
  47. regarder to watch
  48. aimer to love
  49. emprisonner to imprison
  50. laminer to laminate

French tenses explained

Present (Présent)

Use the présent for habits, what is true now, and what is about to happen soon. A single set of endings covers what English often splits into “I speak” and “I am speaking”.

Elle parle arabe et français.

Present subjunctive (Subjonctif présent)

The present subjunctive appears in subordinate clauses after desire, doubt, fear, need, and many impersonals, usually when the subject of the subordinate is different. Learn common triggers: il faut que, je veux que, je doute que…

Il faut qu'il parte avant midi.

Imperative (Impératif)

The imperative is for direct orders and advice to tu, nous, and vous. For many -er verbs, the tu form drops the final -s of the present (parle!); negatives use the subjunctive-like forms in practice.

Fermons la porte, s'il vous plaît !

Simple past (Passé simple)

The passé simple narrates completed past events in a literary or very formal style. In everyday conversation people use the passé composé instead, so you mostly meet this form in books and journalism.

Ils virent le roi s'approcher.

Imperfect subjunctive (Subjonctif imparfait)

The imparfait du subjonctif is a literary and formal past subjunctive. In modern speech, the present subjunctive usually replaces it for the same meaning.

Bien qu'il fût fatigué, il continua.

Imperfect (Imparfait)

The imparfait describes ongoing or repeated past actions and sets the background — how things were, what used to happen, weather, feelings. The passé composé, by contrast, marks single completed events.

Quand j'étais petit, j'allais souvent à la piscine.

Conditional (Conditionnel)

The conditionnel is for polite questions and requests, “would”-type hypotheticals, and what someone said would happen. It is also the usual consequent clause in si + imparfait → conditionnel patterns.

Pourriez-vous répéter, s'il vous plaît ?

Future (Futur)

The futur is for future plans and objective predictions. In speech, aller + infinitive is often clearer for the immediate future, while the simple future is common for facts further ahead or in writing.

Demain, nous dînerons chez eux.

Present perfect (Passé composé)

The passé composé is the main spoken past for completed, bounded actions (often with a time adverb). Use avoir with most verbs; être is required for a fixed group of motion/inchange and all pronominal verbs, with participle agreement when necessary.

Elle est venue tôt, puis elle a téléphoné.

Pluperfect (Plus-que-parfait)

The plus-que-parfait is the “earlier past”: one action was already over before another past moment. It answers “had already” when a story is anchored in a past time.

Déjà, il avait fini quand je suis arrivé.

Conditional perfect (Conditionnel passé)

The conditionnel passé states what would have been true, plans that failed, and unreal past if-clauses (often with si + plus-que-parfait in the apodose).

J'aurais dit oui, mais c'était impossible.

Future perfect (Futur antérieur)

The futur antérieur marks an action that will be finished before a later future moment (by then I will have…). It can also suggest a conjecture about a recent past fact in formal or literary use.

D'ici samedi, j'aurai lu le rapport.