Conjugation › French › Manger
French · Verb Tables · Intermediate
manger means "to eat" in French. Present: je mange, tu manges, il / elle / on mange, nous mangeons, vous mangez, ils / elles mangent. Below: all 13 tenses we teach, with examples.
Formed by adding the present endings to the verb stem. Used for current states, habits, general truths, and (as in English) for actions happening right now.
| je | mange |
| tu | manges |
| il / elle / on | mange |
| nous | mangeons |
| vous | mangez |
| ils / elles | mangent |
French has no dedicated present-continuous tense. To stress that an action is in progress right now, use the present tense of être + en train de + the infinitive. Plain présent already covers ongoing action most of the time.
| je | suis en train de manger |
| tu | es en train de manger |
| il / elle / on | est en train de manger |
| nous | sommes en train de manger |
| vous | êtes en train de manger |
| ils / elles | sont en train de manger |
Formed with avoir or être in the present tense + past participle. In everyday spoken and written French this single compound tense does the job that some languages split between a simple past and a present perfect: it covers both "I spoke" and "I have spoken". (The literary simple past, passé simple, is reserved for formal narrative writing and is covered at the Native level.)
| je | ai mangé |
| tu | as mangé |
| il / elle / on | a mangé |
| nous | avons mangé |
| vous | avez mangé |
| ils / elles | ont mangé |
Formed from the nous-stem of the present tense (drop -ons) + imperfect endings. Used for descriptions, background, habitual or repeated past actions, and states in the past ("used to", "was ...ing").
| je | mangeais |
| tu | mangeais |
| il / elle / on | mangeait |
| nous | mangions |
| vous | mangiez |
| ils / elles | mangeaient |
Formed with avoir or être in the imperfect + past participle. Describes an action that had already happened before another past action or moment.
| je | avais mangé |
| tu | avais mangé |
| il / elle / on | avait mangé |
| nous | avions mangé |
| vous | aviez mangé |
| ils / elles | avaient mangé |
Formed with aller in the present tense + infinitive. The normal, everyday way to talk about the near or planned future, much more common in speech than the futur simple.
| je | vais manger |
| tu | vas manger |
| il / elle / on | va manger |
| nous | allons manger |
| vous | allez manger |
| ils / elles | vont manger |
Formed from the infinitive (dropping the final -e of -re verbs) + future endings, which are the same for all verbs. Used for future facts, promises, and more formal or written predictions.
| je | mangerai |
| tu | mangeras |
| il / elle / on | mangera |
| nous | mangerons |
| vous | mangerez |
| ils / elles | mangeront |
Formed with avoir or être in the simple future + past participle. Describes an action that will already be completed by a given point in the future.
| je | aurai mangé |
| tu | auras mangé |
| il / elle / on | aura mangé |
| nous | aurons mangé |
| vous | aurez mangé |
| ils / elles | auront mangé |
Formed from the same stem as the simple future + the imperfect endings. Used for polite requests, hypothetical results ("would"), and softened suggestions or advice.
| je | mangerais |
| tu | mangerais |
| il / elle / on | mangerait |
| nous | mangerions |
| vous | mangeriez |
| ils / elles | mangeraient |
Formed with avoir or être in the conditional + past participle. Describes what would have happened (often in the result clause of a past hypothetical with si + plus-que-parfait).
| je | aurais mangé |
| tu | aurais mangé |
| il / elle / on | aurait mangé |
| nous | aurions mangé |
| vous | auriez mangé |
| ils / elles | auraient mangé |
For most verbs, formed by adding subjunctive endings to the stem taken from the ils/elles form of the present indicative (parlent -> parl-), except that nous and vous borrow the imperfect stem. Used for present or future subordinate actions after a triggering expression.
| je | mange |
| tu | manges |
| il / elle / on | mange |
| nous | mangions |
| vous | mangiez |
| ils / elles | mangent |
Formed with avoir or être in the present subjunctive + past participle. Used for a subordinate action that is (or will be) completed before the action of the main clause.
| je | aie mangé |
| tu | aies mangé |
| il / elle / on | ait mangé |
| nous | ayons mangé |
| vous | ayez mangé |
| ils / elles | aient mangé |
Same form as the present indicative for tu, nous, vous, except that -er verbs (and verbs conjugated like them) drop the final -s of the tu form: parle, not parles. The negative imperative is formed the same way, simply placed inside ne ... pas (Ne parle pas.); object pronouns attach after the verb with a hyphen in the affirmative (Parle-lui.) but come before it in the negative (Ne lui parle pas.).
| je | — |
| tu | mange |
| il / elle / on | — |
| nous | mangeons |
| vous | mangez |
| ils / elles | — |
| Nous mangeons souvent au restaurant du coin. | We often eat at the restaurant on the corner. |
| Il faudrait que tu manges quelque chose avant de partir. | You should eat something before leaving. |
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