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French · Verb Tables · Intermediate

Manger Conjugation

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.

Present Présent

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.

jemange
tumanges
il / elle / onmange
nousmangeons
vousmangez
ils / ellesmangent

Present continuous — (être en train de + infinitif)

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.

jesuis en train de manger
tues en train de manger
il / elle / onest en train de manger
noussommes en train de manger
vousêtes en train de manger
ils / ellessont en train de manger

Simple past / Present perfect Passé composé

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.)

jeai mangé
tuas mangé
il / elle / ona mangé
nousavons mangé
vousavez mangé
ils / ellesont mangé

Imperfect Imparfait

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").

jemangeais
tumangeais
il / elle / onmangeait
nousmangions
vousmangiez
ils / ellesmangeaient

Pluperfect Plus-que-parfait

Formed with avoir or être in the imperfect + past participle. Describes an action that had already happened before another past action or moment.

jeavais mangé
tuavais mangé
il / elle / onavait mangé
nousavions mangé
vousaviez mangé
ils / ellesavaient mangé

Near future Futur proche

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.

jevais manger
tuvas manger
il / elle / onva manger
nousallons manger
vousallez manger
ils / ellesvont manger

Simple future Futur simple

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.

jemangerai
tumangeras
il / elle / onmangera
nousmangerons
vousmangerez
ils / ellesmangeront

Future perfect Futur antérieur

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.

jeaurai mangé
tuauras mangé
il / elle / onaura mangé
nousaurons mangé
vousaurez mangé
ils / ellesauront mangé

Conditional Conditionnel présent

Formed from the same stem as the simple future + the imperfect endings. Used for polite requests, hypothetical results ("would"), and softened suggestions or advice.

jemangerais
tumangerais
il / elle / onmangerait
nousmangerions
vousmangeriez
ils / ellesmangeraient

Conditional perfect Conditionnel passé

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).

jeaurais mangé
tuaurais mangé
il / elle / onaurait mangé
nousaurions mangé
vousauriez mangé
ils / ellesauraient mangé

Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent

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.

jemange
tumanges
il / elle / onmange
nousmangions
vousmangiez
ils / ellesmangent

Present perfect subjunctive Subjonctif passé

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.

jeaie mangé
tuaies mangé
il / elle / onait mangé
nousayons mangé
vousayez mangé
ils / ellesaient mangé

Imperative Impératif

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—
tumange
il / elle / on—
nousmangeons
vousmangez
ils / elles—

Examples

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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