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 weaken.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | affaiblis | I weaken | |
| tu | affaiblis | you weaken | |
| il / elle / on | affaiblit | he / she / it weakenson: we weaken / one weakens | |
| nous | affaiblissons | we weaken | |
| vous | affaiblissez | you weaken | |
| ils / elles | affaiblissent | they weaken |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Le manque de sommeil affaiblit Paul.
The lack of sleep weakens Paul.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai affaibli | I weakened | |
| tu | as affaibli | you weakened | |
| il / elle / on | a affaibli | he / she / it weakenedon: we weakened / one weakened | |
| nous | avons affaibli | we weakened | |
| vous | avez affaibli | you weakened | |
| ils / elles | ont affaibli | they weakened |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, le manque de sommeil a affaibli Paul.
Yesterday, the lack of sleep weakened Paul.
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’ | affaiblissais | I used to weaken | |
| tu | affaiblissais | you used to weaken | |
| il / elle / on | affaiblissait | he / she / it used to weakenon: we used to weaken / one used to weaken | |
| nous | affaiblissions | we used to weaken | |
| vous | affaiblissiez | you used to weaken | |
| ils / elles | affaiblissaient | they used to weaken |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, le manque de sommeil affaiblissait Paul.
Back then, the lack of sleep used to weaken Paul.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | affaiblirai | I will weaken | |
| tu | affaibliras | you will weaken | |
| il / elle / on | affaiblira | he / she / it will weakenon: we will weaken / one will weaken | |
| nous | affaiblirons | we will weaken | |
| vous | affaiblirez | you will weaken | |
| ils / elles | affaibliront | they will weaken |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, le manque de sommeil affaiblira Paul.
Later, the lack of sleep will weaken Paul.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | affaiblirais | I would weaken | |
| tu | affaiblirais | you would weaken | |
| il / elle / on | affaiblirait | he / she / it would weakenon: we would weaken / one would weaken | |
| nous | affaiblirions | we would weaken | |
| vous | affaibliriez | you would weaken | |
| ils / elles | affaibliraient | they would weaken |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Le manque de sommeil affaiblirait Paul.
The lack of sleep would weaken Paul.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | affaiblisse | (that) I weaken | |
| tu | affaiblisses | (that) you weaken | |
| il / elle / on | affaiblisse | (that) he / she / it weakenson: (that) we weaken / one weakens | |
| nous | affaiblissions | (that) we weaken | |
| vous | affaiblissiez | (that) you weaken | |
| ils / elles | affaiblissent | (that) they weaken |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que le manque de sommeil affaiblisse Paul.
It is possible that the lack of sleep weakens Paul.
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 weaken, to flag, to make weaker, to enfeeble, enervate, attenuate
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