French guides · Verb tables + audio
Aimer: to love — and the word that downgrades it.
Aimer means “to love”, and it is a textbook-regular -er verb with nothing to memorise. What earns it a page is a piece of usage that works backwards from every instinct an English speaker has: in French, adding an intensifier makes it weaker. Je t’aime is a declaration. Je t’aime bien — “I like you a lot”, you would assume — is what you say to a friend, and to a partner it lands as a let-down.
Présent — regular, and elided
Stem aim-, the standard -er endings, no changes anywhere. Because it starts with a vowel, je contracts to j’ — and nous and vous liaise, so nous aimons is heard as “noo-ZAY-mohn”.
| French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|
| j’aime | I love | |
| tu aimes | you love | |
| il / elle aime | he / she loves | |
| nous aimons | we love | |
| vous aimez | you love | |
| ils / elles aiment | they love |
J’aime, tu aimes, il aime and ils aiment are all “em”. Only the pronoun tells them apart — and with the liaison, ils aiment is “eel-ZEM”, which at least separates it from il aime, “ee-LEM”.
⚠ Je t’aime and je t’aime bien
The single most consequential adverb in French. Bien normally strengthens; here it defuses.
| French | Means | Say it to |
|---|---|---|
| je t’aime | I love you | a partner, close family |
| je t’aime bien | I like you | a friend — and only a friend |
| je t’aime beaucoup | I’m very fond of you | warm, still not romantic |
| j’aime le chocolat | I like chocolate | things — no ambiguity at all |
| j’adore ce film | I love this film | things you feel strongly about |
A bare aimer aimed at a person is already at maximum strength — it means love. Any qualifier can only measure it, and measuring it implies it is measurable, which love is not supposed to be. So bien and beaucoup both read as “this is affection, not love”.
J’aime le chocolat is simply “I like chocolate”, and j’aime beaucoup ce livre is straightforwardly stronger. The reversal only applies to people. For things you feel strongly about, French reaches for adorer.
Passé composé — and why it is rare
Participle aimé, with avoir. You will meet it much less than the imparfait: loving is a state, and the passé composé frames it as a completed event. Je l’ai aimé means it is over.
| French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|
| j’ai aimé | I loved / have loved | |
| tu as aimé | you loved / have loved | |
| il / elle a aimé | he / she loved / have loved | |
| nous avons aimé | we loved / have loved | |
| vous avez aimé | you loved / have loved | |
| ils / elles ont aimé | they loved / have loved |
Imparfait — the tense love lives in
Je l’aimais — “I loved him/her”, as an ongoing state. This is the normal past for this verb, and the choice between it and the passé composé carries real weight in French.
| French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|
| j’aimais | I loved / used to love | |
| tu aimais | you loved / used to love | |
| il / elle aimait | he / she loved / used to love | |
| nous aimions | we loved / used to love | |
| vous aimiez | you loved / used to love | |
| ils / elles aimaient | they loved / used to love |
Futur and conditionnel — and the polite one
Completely regular: j’aimerai, from the full infinitive.
| French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|
| j’aimerai | I will love | |
| tu aimeras | you will love | |
| il / elle aimera | he / she will love | |
| nous aimerons | we will love | |
| vous aimerez | you will love | |
| ils / elles aimeront | they will love |
Conditionnel — j’aimerais
Worth learning ahead of the futur. J’aimerais — “I would like” — sits alongside je voudrais as a polite way to ask for something, and is slightly warmer: j’aimerais réserver une table.
| French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|
| j’aimerais | I would love | |
| tu aimerais | you would love | |
| il / elle aimerait | he / she would love | |
| nous aimerions | we would love | |
| vous aimeriez | you would love | |
| ils / elles aimeraient | they would love |
Subjonctif — after wanting
Regular, and identical to the présent in four forms. J’aimerais que tu viennes — note that the second verb goes subjunctive, not this one.
| French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|
| j’aime | (that) I love | |
| tu aimes | (that) you love | |
| il / elle aime | (that) he / she love | |
| nous aimions | (that) we love | |
| vous aimiez | (that) you love | |
| ils / elles aiment | (that) they love |
Impératif — rarely an order
Aime ! exists and is essentially never said — you cannot instruct a feeling. Aimons-nous turns up in songs and wedding readings.
| French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|
| aime ! | love! (to one person you know) | |
| aimons ! | let’s love! | |
| aimez ! | love! (formal, or to a group) |
Plus-que-parfait — had loved
Je l’avais aimé, agreeing if the object comes first: je l’avais aimée.
| French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|
| j’avais aimé | I had loved | |
| tu avais aimé | you had loved | |
| il / elle avait aimé | he / she had loved | |
| nous avions aimé | we had loved | |
| vous aviez aimé | you had loved | |
| ils / elles avaient aimé | they had loved |
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Quick answers
Aimer, answered.
The questions that come up while you are learning the table.