French Regular Verbs

French Verb Conjugations

There's no need to remember these before you have done any reading. The best way to acquire new knowledge is to experience it. So start reading and when you run into a peculiar verb form in French just look it up on the table.

conjugations conjugation name: description in English: Example sentence
je danse, tu danses, il/elle danse
nous dansons, vous dansez, ils/elles dansent
present: Something happening now. dance: She dances around the room.
je dansai, tu dansas, il/elle dansa
nous dansâmes, vous dansâtes, ils/elles dansèrent
past perfect: Happened (literary). danced: She danced for me on Valentine last year.
je dansais, tu dansais, il/elle dansait
nous dansions, vous dansiez, ils/elles dansaient
past imperfect: Ongoing or habitual. danced: She always danced as if she were a butterfly.
j' ai dansé, tu as dansé, il/elle a dansé
nous avons dansé, vous avez dansé, ils/elles ont dansé
perfect: Something finished just now. (have) danced: I have danced (I danced) the night away.
j' avais dansé, tu avais dansé, il/elle avait dansé
nous avions dansé, vous aviez dansé, ils/elles avaient dansé
past/plu- perfect: Past habitual. had danced: On Fridays, after we had danced, we had a drink.
j' eus dansé, tu eus dansé, il/elle eut dansé
nous eûmes dansé, vous eûtes dansé, ils/elles eurent dansé
past anterior: Finished in the past. had danced: I had danced for her on Valentine's day last year.
je danserai, tu danseras, il/elle dansera
nous danserons, vous danserez, ils/elles danseront
future: Do something in the future. will dance: I will dance for her tomorrow.
j' aurai dansé, tu auras dansé, il/elle aura dansé
nous aurons dansé, vous aurez dansé, ils/elles auront dansé
future anterior: Future finished. will have danced: I will have danced for her by next week.
je danserais, tu danserais, il/elle danserait
nous danserions, vous danseriez, ils/elles danseraient
conditional: Wish or necessity in the future. would dance: I would dance with you alone.
j'aurais dansé, tu aurais dansé, il/elle aurait dansé
nous aurions dansé, vous auriez dansé, ils/elles auraient dansé
past conditional: Finished wish or obligation. would have danced: I would have danced with you.
(que) je danse, tu danses, il/elle danse
nous dansions, vous dansiez, ils/elles dansent
subjunctive: Wish or necessity. (that) I dance: You know that I dance only with you.
je dansasse, tu dansasses, il/elle dansât
nous dansassions, vous dansassiez, ils/elles dansassent
imperfect subjunctive: Habitual or ongoing. (that) I danced: I loved that we danced on Fridays.
j' aie dansé, tu aies dansé, il/elle ait dansé
nous ayons dansé, vous ayez dansé, ils/elles aient dansé
perfect subjunctive: Finished. (that) I have danced: Is it true that we have danced?
j' eusse dansé, tu eusses dansé, il/elle eût dansé
nous eussions dansé, vous eussiez dansé, elles eussent dansé
pluperfect subjunctive: Finished in the past. (that) I had danced: You knew I had danced with him!
tu danse
nous dansons, vous dansez
imperative: Something forced. dance!: Let's dance! Dance little sister!
je suis dansant(e), tu es dansant(e), il/elle est dansant(e)
nous sommes dansant(e)s, vous êtes dansant(e)s, ils/elles sont dansant(e)s
continuous: Something going on now. We're dancing till we drop.

 

The participle "dansé" and the gerunt "dansant" can be inflected to indicate gender or number: elles sont dansantes, they are dancing.