French conjugation
Explore the published tenses and patterns, then search for a verb to conjugate.
Moods and tenses
Each mood groups simple and compound tenses.
Indicative mood
8 tensesFrench mood that presents an action as a real fact located in time.
Subjunctive mood
4 tensesFrench mood that presents an action as wished, doubted or merely considered, mostly in subordinate clauses.
Conditional mood
2 tensesFrench mood that expresses an action depending on a condition, a hypothesis or a polite request.
Imperative mood
2 tensesFrench mood used for orders, advice and prohibitions, without a stated subject pronoun.
Infinitive mood
2 tensesImpersonal French mood giving the noun-like base form of the conjugation_verb, with no person marking.
Participle mood
3 tensesImpersonal French mood whose forms work as adjectives or build compound tenses.
Gerund mood
2 tensesImpersonal French mood formed with « en » that expresses simultaneity, manner or cause.
Groups and patterns
Verbs are conjugated on a pattern: remember the model verb.
First group
6 patternsFrench verbs ending in -er, except aller, with a regular conjugation.
- parler
Regular -er verbs
The stem stays the same for every person and takes the regular first-group endings.
- acheter
-e_er verbs taking è
The mute e of the stem becomes è before a mute ending, as in j'achète.
- jeter
-eler and -eter verbs doubling the consonant
The final stem consonant doubles before a mute ending, as in je jette.
- commencer
-cer verbs
The c becomes ç before a and o to keep the [s] sound, as in nous commençons.
- manger
-ger verbs
An e is added after the g before a and o to keep the [ʒ] sound, as in nous mangeons.
- nettoyer
-yer verbs
The stem y becomes i before a mute ending, as in je nettoie.
Second group
1 patternFrench verbs ending in -ir whose present participle ends in -issant, like finir.
- finir
-ir verbs with the -iss- infix
The -iss- infix appears between stem and ending in the plural present and in the imperfect, as in nous finissons.
Third group
6 patternsIrregular French verbs: aller, -ir verbs without -iss-, and verbs in -re and -oir.
- partir
partir-type -ir verbs
The stem drops its final consonant in the three singular persons of the present, as in je pars.
- vendre
vendre-type -re verbs
The stem is obtained by dropping -re and takes the endings -s, -s and no ending in the present singular.
- recevoir
recevoir-type -oir verbs
The stem alternates between reçoi-, recev- and reçoiv- depending on person and tense.
- être
Auxiliary être
Irregular conjugation_verb with several stems, used as the auxiliary in the compound tenses of reflexive verbs and some motion verbs.
- avoir
Auxiliary avoir
Irregular conjugation_verb with several stems, used as the auxiliary in the compound tenses of most French verbs.
- aller
Highly irregular verbs
Verbs with no regular formation rule, such as aller, faire and dire, whose forms must be listed explicitly.