Conjugations
All six tenses and their examples are shown below. Use the links above to jump to a tense. English translations use the meaning “to mislead.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | abuse | I mislead | |
| tu | abuses | you mislead | |
| il / elle / on | abuse | he / she / it misleadson: we mislead / one misleads | |
| nous | abusons | we mislead | |
| vous | abusez | you mislead | |
| ils / elles | abusent | they mislead |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Le faux guide abuse les touristes.
The fake guide misleads the tourists.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai abusé | I misled | |
| tu | as abusé | you misled | |
| il / elle / on | a abusé | he / she / it misledon: we misled / one misled | |
| nous | avons abusé | we misled | |
| vous | avez abusé | you misled | |
| ils / elles | ont abusé | they misled |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, le faux guide a abusé les touristes.
Yesterday, the fake guide misled the tourists.
The passé composé uses avoir. The table shows the unmarked participle; agreement with a preceding direct object is outside this reference.
Back to tense navigation ↑Imperfect Imparfait
Past habits, descriptions, and actions in progress.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | abusais | I used to mislead | |
| tu | abusais | you used to mislead | |
| il / elle / on | abusait | he / she / it used to misleadon: we used to mislead / one used to mislead | |
| nous | abusions | we used to mislead | |
| vous | abusiez | you used to mislead | |
| ils / elles | abusaient | they used to mislead |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, le faux guide abusait les touristes.
Back then, the fake guide used to mislead the tourists.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | abuserai | I will mislead | |
| tu | abuseras | you will mislead | |
| il / elle / on | abusera | he / she / it will misleadon: we will mislead / one will mislead | |
| nous | abuserons | we will mislead | |
| vous | abuserez | you will mislead | |
| ils / elles | abuseront | they will mislead |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, le faux guide abusera les touristes.
Later, the fake guide will mislead the tourists.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | abuserais | I would mislead | |
| tu | abuserais | you would mislead | |
| il / elle / on | abuserait | he / she / it would misleadon: we would mislead / one would mislead | |
| nous | abuserions | we would mislead | |
| vous | abuseriez | you would mislead | |
| ils / elles | abuseraient | they would mislead |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Le faux guide abuserait les touristes.
The fake guide would mislead the tourists.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | abuse | (that) I mislead | |
| tu | abuses | (that) you mislead | |
| il / elle / on | abuse | (that) he / she / it misleadson: (that) we mislead / one misleads | |
| nous | abusions | (that) we mislead | |
| vous | abusiez | (that) you mislead | |
| ils / elles | abusent | (that) they mislead |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que le faux guide abuse les touristes.
It is possible that the fake guide misleads the tourists.
French forms omit the subject. Use j’ before a vowel sound. Vous is polite singular or plural “you”; on often means “we,” or the general “one.” English wording depends on the context: passé composé can also use “have,” and the imperfect can describe an ongoing action. Subjunctive translations here follow “it is possible that.”
This example uses the direct-object construction abuser quelqu’un, meaning mislead someone. Abuser de means misuse or overuse.
Meaning & usage
- to mislead
- to take advantage [with de ‘of'] (especially sexually)
- to abuse (use improperly)
English glosses are a starting point. The meaning of a verb can change with context, a preposition, or se. Read the full dictionary entry ↗
Meanings and simple conjugation forms adapted from English Wiktionary contributors via Kaikki.org / Wiktextract. Passé composé forms combine the source auxiliary and past participle. Frequency scores from wordfreq 3.1.1 by Robyn Speer and contributors. Adapted data is available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Entry source · Sources, download & limitations