ramper — French conjugation

to crawl

Frequency#1932Regular

Indicative

Present (Présent) Regular

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.

PronounFrenchEnglish
jerampeI crawl
turampesyou crawl
il/ellerampehe/she/it crawls
nousramponswe crawl
vousrampezyou (pl.) crawl
ils/ellesrampentthey crawl

Simple past (Passé simple) Regular

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.

PronounFrenchEnglish
jerampaiI crawled
turampasyou crawled
il/ellerampahe/she/it crawled
nousrampâmeswe crawled
vousrampâtesyou (pl.) crawled
ils/ellesrampèrentthey crawled

Imperfect (Imparfait) Regular

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.

PronounFrench
jerampais
turampais
il/ellerampait
nousrampions
vousrampiez
ils/ellesrampaient

Conditional (Conditionnel) Regular

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 ?

PronounFrenchEnglish
jeramperaisI would crawl
turamperaisyou would crawl
il/elleramperaithe/she/it would crawl
nousramperionswe would crawl
vousramperiezyou (pl.) would crawl
ils/ellesramperaientthey would crawl

Future (Futur) Regular

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.

PronounFrenchEnglish
jeramperaiI will crawl
turamperasyou will crawl
il/elleramperahe/she/it will crawl
nousramperonswe will crawl
vousramperezyou (pl.) will crawl
ils/ellesramperontthey will crawl

Present perfect (Passé composé) Regular

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.

PronounFrenchEnglish
jej'ai rampéI have crawled
tutu as rampéyou have crawled
il/elleil/elle a rampéhe/she/it has crawled
nousnous avons rampéwe have crawled
vousvous avez rampéyou (pl.) have crawled
ils/ellesils/elles ont rampéthey have crawled

Pluperfect (Plus-que-parfait) Regular

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.

PronounFrenchEnglish
jej'avais rampéI had crawled
tutu avais rampéyou had crawled
il/elleil/elle avait rampéhe/she/it had crawled
nousnous avions rampéwe had crawled
vousvous aviez rampéyou (pl.) had crawled
ils/ellesils/elles avaient rampéthey had crawled

Conditional perfect (Conditionnel passé) Regular

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.

PronounFrench
jej'aurais rampé
tutu aurais rampé
il/elleil/elle aurait rampé
nousnous aurions rampé
vousvous auriez rampé
ils/ellesils/elles auraient rampé

Future perfect (Futur antérieur) Regular

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.

PronounFrenchEnglish
jej'aurai rampéI will have crawled
tutu auras rampéyou will have crawled
il/elleil/elle aura rampéhe/she/it will have crawled
nousnous aurons rampéwe will have crawled
vousvous aurez rampéyou (pl.) will have crawled
ils/ellesils/elles auront rampéthey will have crawled

Subjunctive

Present subjunctive (Subjonctif présent) Regular

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.

PronounFrench
jerampe
turampes
il/ellerampe
nousrampions
vousrampiez
ils/ellesrampent

Imperfect subjunctive (Subjonctif imparfait) Regular

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.

PronounFrench
jerampasse
turampasses
il/ellerampât
nousrampassions
vousrampassiez
ils/ellesrampassent

Other forms

Imperative (Impératif) Regular

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 !

PronounFrench
turampe
nousrampons
vousrampez