Translating Compound Tenses and Moods

Traduire les temps et modes composés

	Share / Tweet / Pin Me!

French and English have a number of important differences in verb tenses and moods, which can make translating the various conjugations from one language to the other a bit tricky, as explained in the intro to this lesson: French verb conjugation translations.

Please be sure to keep all of that in mind as you look at the verb donner (to give) conjugated into every compound French verb form. For a more detailed look, click the heading above any table for the in-depth French lesson.

 You’ll notice a lot of the same English translations in the past tenses – this is because French has numerous verb forms, particularly in writing, that express distinctions that don’t really exist in English.

Passé composé

		Simple past	Present perfect	Past emphatic
j’ai donné		I gave	I have given	I did give
tu as donné		you gave	you have given	you did give
il a donné		he gave	he has given	he did give
elle a donné		she gave	she has given	she did give
nous avons donné		we gave	we have given	we did give
vous avez donné		you gave	you have given	you did give
ils ont donné		they gave	they have given	they did give

Past subjunctive

		Simple past	Present perfect
que j’aie donné		that I gave	that I have given
que tu aies donné		that you gave	that you have given
qu’il ait donné		that he gave	that he has given
qu’elle ait donné		that she gave	that she has given
que nous ayons donné		that we gave	that we have given
que vous ayez donné		that you gave	that you have given
qu’ils aient donné		that they gave	that they have given

Future perfect

		Future
j’aurai donné		I will have given
tu auras donné		you will have given
il aura donné		he will have given
elle aura donné		she will have given
nous aurons donné		we will have given
vous aurez donné		you will have given
ils auront donné		they will have given

Conditional perfect

		Conditional perfect
j’aurais donné		I would have given
tu aurais donné		you would have given
il aurait donné		he would have given
elle aurait donné		she would have given
nous aurions donné		we would have given
vous auriez donné		you would have given
ils auraient donné		they would have given

Second form of the conditional perfect

		Conditional perfect
que j’eusse donné		that I would have given
que tu eusses donné		that you would have given
qu’il eût donné		that he would have given
qu’elle eût donné		that she would have given
que nous eussions donné		that we would have given
que vous eussiez donné		that you would have given
qu’ils eussent donné		that they would have given

Pluperfect

		Past perfect
j’avais donné		I had given
tu avais donné		you had given
il avait donné		he had given
elle avait donné		she had given
nous avions donné		we had given
vous aviez donné		you had given
ils avaient donné		they had given

Past anterior

		Past perfect
j’eus donné		I had given
tu eus donné		you had given
il eut donné		he had given
elle eut donné		she had given
nous eûmes donné		we had given
vous eûtes donné		you had given
ils eurent donné		they had given

Pluperfect subjunctive

		Past perfect
que j’eusse donné		that I had given
que tu eusses donné		that you had given
qu’il eût donné		that he had given
qu’elle eût donné		that she had given
que nous eussions donné		that we had given
que vous eussiez donné		that you had given
qu’ils eussent donné		that they had given

More about translating French verb conjugations

• Introduction
• Translating simple conjugations
• Translating compound conjugations
• Translating imperatives, infinitives, and participles

 Related lessons

• Simple and compound French verb conjugations
• Translating modal verbs into French

 Share / Tweet / Pin Me!