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 adopt.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | adopte | I adopt | |
| tu | adoptes | you adopt | |
| il / elle / on | adopte | he / she / it adoptson: we adopt / one adopts | |
| nous | adoptons | we adopt | |
| vous | adoptez | you adopt | |
| ils / elles | adoptent | they adopt |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul adopte un chien au refuge.
Paul adopts a dog from the shelter.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai adopté | I adopted | |
| tu | as adopté | you adopted | |
| il / elle / on | a adopté | he / she / it adoptedon: we adopted / one adopted | |
| nous | avons adopté | we adopted | |
| vous | avez adopté | you adopted | |
| ils / elles | ont adopté | they adopted |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a adopté un chien au refuge.
Yesterday, Paul adopted a dog from the shelter.
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’ | adoptais | I used to adopt | |
| tu | adoptais | you used to adopt | |
| il / elle / on | adoptait | he / she / it used to adopton: we used to adopt / one used to adopt | |
| nous | adoptions | we used to adopt | |
| vous | adoptiez | you used to adopt | |
| ils / elles | adoptaient | they used to adopt |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul adoptait un chien au refuge.
Back then, Paul used to adopt a dog from the shelter.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | adopterai | I will adopt | |
| tu | adopteras | you will adopt | |
| il / elle / on | adoptera | he / she / it will adopton: we will adopt / one will adopt | |
| nous | adopterons | we will adopt | |
| vous | adopterez | you will adopt | |
| ils / elles | adopteront | they will adopt |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul adoptera un chien au refuge.
Later, Paul will adopt a dog from the shelter.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | adopterais | I would adopt | |
| tu | adopterais | you would adopt | |
| il / elle / on | adopterait | he / she / it would adopton: we would adopt / one would adopt | |
| nous | adopterions | we would adopt | |
| vous | adopteriez | you would adopt | |
| ils / elles | adopteraient | they would adopt |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul adopterait un chien au refuge.
Paul would adopt a dog from the shelter.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | adopte | (that) I adopt | |
| tu | adoptes | (that) you adopt | |
| il / elle / on | adopte | (that) he / she / it adoptson: (that) we adopt / one adopts | |
| nous | adoptions | (that) we adopt | |
| vous | adoptiez | (that) you adopt | |
| ils / elles | adoptent | (that) they adopt |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul adopte un chien au refuge.
It is possible that Paul adopts a dog from the shelter.
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 adopt
- to adopt (claim legal ownership of a child)
- to adopt (claim ownership of a child)
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