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 feign.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | affecte | I feign | |
| tu | affectes | you feign | |
| il / elle / on | affecte | he / she / it feignson: we feign / one feigns | |
| nous | affectons | we feign | |
| vous | affectez | you feign | |
| ils / elles | affectent | they feign |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul affecte une grande surprise.
Paul feigns great surprise.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai affecté | I feigned | |
| tu | as affecté | you feigned | |
| il / elle / on | a affecté | he / she / it feignedon: we feigned / one feigned | |
| nous | avons affecté | we feigned | |
| vous | avez affecté | you feigned | |
| ils / elles | ont affecté | they feigned |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a affecté une grande surprise.
Yesterday, Paul feigned great surprise.
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’ | affectais | I used to feign | |
| tu | affectais | you used to feign | |
| il / elle / on | affectait | he / she / it used to feignon: we used to feign / one used to feign | |
| nous | affections | we used to feign | |
| vous | affectiez | you used to feign | |
| ils / elles | affectaient | they used to feign |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul affectait une grande surprise.
Back then, Paul used to feign great surprise.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | affecterai | I will feign | |
| tu | affecteras | you will feign | |
| il / elle / on | affectera | he / she / it will feignon: we will feign / one will feign | |
| nous | affecterons | we will feign | |
| vous | affecterez | you will feign | |
| ils / elles | affecteront | they will feign |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul affectera une grande surprise.
Later, Paul will feign great surprise.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | affecterais | I would feign | |
| tu | affecterais | you would feign | |
| il / elle / on | affecterait | he / she / it would feignon: we would feign / one would feign | |
| nous | affecterions | we would feign | |
| vous | affecteriez | you would feign | |
| ils / elles | affecteraient | they would feign |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul affecterait une grande surprise.
Paul would feign great surprise.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | affecte | (that) I feign | |
| tu | affectes | (that) you feign | |
| il / elle / on | affecte | (that) he / she / it feignson: (that) we feign / one feigns | |
| nous | affections | (that) we feign | |
| vous | affectiez | (that) you feign | |
| ils / elles | affectent | (that) they feign |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul affecte une grande surprise.
It is possible that Paul feigns great surprise.
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.”
The example uses affecter to mean feign an emotion, rather than affect something or assign someone to a job.
Meaning & usage
- to feign, affect (an emotion, etc.)
- to allocate (something),
- to assign someone, to post someone
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