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 send.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | adresse | I send | |
| tu | adresses | you send | |
| il / elle / on | adresse | he / she / it sendson: we send / one sends | |
| nous | adressons | we send | |
| vous | adressez | you send | |
| ils / elles | adressent | they send |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul adresse une demande au directeur.
Paul sends a request to the director.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai adressé | I sent | |
| tu | as adressé | you sent | |
| il / elle / on | a adressé | he / she / it senton: we sent / one sent | |
| nous | avons adressé | we sent | |
| vous | avez adressé | you sent | |
| ils / elles | ont adressé | they sent |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a adressé une demande au directeur.
Yesterday, Paul sent a request to the director.
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’ | adressais | I used to send | |
| tu | adressais | you used to send | |
| il / elle / on | adressait | he / she / it used to sendon: we used to send / one used to send | |
| nous | adressions | we used to send | |
| vous | adressiez | you used to send | |
| ils / elles | adressaient | they used to send |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul adressait une demande au directeur.
Back then, Paul used to send a request to the director.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | adresserai | I will send | |
| tu | adresseras | you will send | |
| il / elle / on | adressera | he / she / it will sendon: we will send / one will send | |
| nous | adresserons | we will send | |
| vous | adresserez | you will send | |
| ils / elles | adresseront | they will send |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul adressera une demande au directeur.
Later, Paul will send a request to the director.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | adresserais | I would send | |
| tu | adresserais | you would send | |
| il / elle / on | adresserait | he / she / it would sendon: we would send / one would send | |
| nous | adresserions | we would send | |
| vous | adresseriez | you would send | |
| ils / elles | adresseraient | they would send |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul adresserait une demande au directeur.
Paul would send a request to the director.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | adresse | (that) I send | |
| tu | adresses | (that) you send | |
| il / elle / on | adresse | (that) he / she / it sendson: (that) we send / one sends | |
| nous | adressions | (that) we send | |
| vous | adressiez | (that) you send | |
| ils / elles | adressent | (that) they send |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul adresse une demande au directeur.
It is possible that Paul sends a request to the director.
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 direct
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