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 acquire.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | acquiers | I acquire | |
| tu | acquiers | you acquire | |
| il / elle / on | acquiert | he / she / it acquireson: we acquire / one acquires | |
| nous | acquérons | we acquire | |
| vous | acquérez | you acquire | |
| ils / elles | acquièrent | they acquire |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul acquiert de nouvelles compétences.
Paul acquires new skills.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai acquis | I acquired | |
| tu | as acquis | you acquired | |
| il / elle / on | a acquis | he / she / it acquiredon: we acquired / one acquired | |
| nous | avons acquis | we acquired | |
| vous | avez acquis | you acquired | |
| ils / elles | ont acquis | they acquired |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a acquis de nouvelles compétences.
Yesterday, Paul acquired new skills.
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’ | acquérais | I used to acquire | |
| tu | acquérais | you used to acquire | |
| il / elle / on | acquérait | he / she / it used to acquireon: we used to acquire / one used to acquire | |
| nous | acquérions | we used to acquire | |
| vous | acquériez | you used to acquire | |
| ils / elles | acquéraient | they used to acquire |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul acquérait de nouvelles compétences.
Back then, Paul used to acquire new skills.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | acquerrai | I will acquire | |
| tu | acquerras | you will acquire | |
| il / elle / on | acquerra | he / she / it will acquireon: we will acquire / one will acquire | |
| nous | acquerrons | we will acquire | |
| vous | acquerrez | you will acquire | |
| ils / elles | acquerront | they will acquire |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul acquerra de nouvelles compétences.
Later, Paul will acquire new skills.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | acquerrais | I would acquire | |
| tu | acquerrais | you would acquire | |
| il / elle / on | acquerrait | he / she / it would acquireon: we would acquire / one would acquire | |
| nous | acquerrions | we would acquire | |
| vous | acquerriez | you would acquire | |
| ils / elles | acquerraient | they would acquire |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul acquerrait de nouvelles compétences.
Paul would acquire new skills.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | acquière | (that) I acquire | |
| tu | acquières | (that) you acquire | |
| il / elle / on | acquière | (that) he / she / it acquireson: (that) we acquire / one acquires | |
| nous | acquérions | (that) we acquire | |
| vous | acquériez | (that) you acquire | |
| ils / elles | acquièrent | (that) they acquire |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul acquière de nouvelles compétences.
It is possible that Paul acquires new skills.
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 acquire, to obtain
- to purchase
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