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 accelerate.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | accélère | I accelerate | |
| tu | accélères | you accelerate | |
| il / elle / on | accélère | he / she / it accelerateson: we accelerate / one accelerates | |
| nous | accélérons | we accelerate | |
| vous | accélérez | you accelerate | |
| ils / elles | accélèrent | they accelerate |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Le conducteur accélère à la sortie du virage.
The driver accelerates after the bend.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai accéléré | I accelerated | |
| tu | as accéléré | you accelerated | |
| il / elle / on | a accéléré | he / she / it acceleratedon: we accelerated / one accelerated | |
| nous | avons accéléré | we accelerated | |
| vous | avez accéléré | you accelerated | |
| ils / elles | ont accéléré | they accelerated |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, le conducteur a accéléré à la sortie du virage.
Yesterday, the driver accelerated after the bend.
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’ | accélérais | I used to accelerate | |
| tu | accélérais | you used to accelerate | |
| il / elle / on | accélérait | he / she / it used to accelerateon: we used to accelerate / one used to accelerate | |
| nous | accélérions | we used to accelerate | |
| vous | accélériez | you used to accelerate | |
| ils / elles | accéléraient | they used to accelerate |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, le conducteur accélérait à la sortie du virage.
Back then, the driver used to accelerate after the bend.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | accélèrerai / accélérerai | I will accelerate | |
| tu | accélèreras / accéléreras | you will accelerate | |
| il / elle / on | accélèrera / accélérera | he / she / it will accelerateon: we will accelerate / one will accelerate | |
| nous | accélèrerons / accélérerons | we will accelerate | |
| vous | accélèrerez / accélérerez | you will accelerate | |
| ils / elles | accélèreront / accéléreront | they will accelerate |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, le conducteur accélèrera à la sortie du virage.
Later, the driver will accelerate after the bend.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | accélèrerais / accélérerais | I would accelerate | |
| tu | accélèrerais / accélérerais | you would accelerate | |
| il / elle / on | accélèrerait / accélérerait | he / she / it would accelerateon: we would accelerate / one would accelerate | |
| nous | accélèrerions / accélérerions | we would accelerate | |
| vous | accélèreriez / accéléreriez | you would accelerate | |
| ils / elles | accélèreraient / accéléreraient | they would accelerate |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Le conducteur accélèrerait à la sortie du virage.
The driver would accelerate after the bend.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | accélère | (that) I accelerate | |
| tu | accélères | (that) you accelerate | |
| il / elle / on | accélère | (that) he / she / it accelerateson: (that) we accelerate / one accelerates | |
| nous | accélérions | (that) we accelerate | |
| vous | accélériez | (that) you accelerate | |
| ils / elles | accélèrent | (that) they accelerate |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que le conducteur accélère à la sortie du virage.
It is possible that the driver accelerates after the bend.
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.”
Meaning & usage
- to accelerate
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