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 affirm.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | affirme | I affirm | |
| tu | affirmes | you affirm | |
| il / elle / on | affirme | he / she / it affirmson: we affirm / one affirms | |
| nous | affirmons | we affirm | |
| vous | affirmez | you affirm | |
| ils / elles | affirment | they affirm |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul affirme son soutien au projet.
Paul affirms his support for the project.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai affirmé | I affirmed | |
| tu | as affirmé | you affirmed | |
| il / elle / on | a affirmé | he / she / it affirmedon: we affirmed / one affirmed | |
| nous | avons affirmé | we affirmed | |
| vous | avez affirmé | you affirmed | |
| ils / elles | ont affirmé | they affirmed |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a affirmé son soutien au projet.
Yesterday, Paul affirmed his support for the project.
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’ | affirmais | I used to affirm | |
| tu | affirmais | you used to affirm | |
| il / elle / on | affirmait | he / she / it used to affirmon: we used to affirm / one used to affirm | |
| nous | affirmions | we used to affirm | |
| vous | affirmiez | you used to affirm | |
| ils / elles | affirmaient | they used to affirm |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul affirmait son soutien au projet.
Back then, Paul used to affirm his support for the project.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | affirmerai | I will affirm | |
| tu | affirmeras | you will affirm | |
| il / elle / on | affirmera | he / she / it will affirmon: we will affirm / one will affirm | |
| nous | affirmerons | we will affirm | |
| vous | affirmerez | you will affirm | |
| ils / elles | affirmeront | they will affirm |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul affirmera son soutien au projet.
Later, Paul will affirm his support for the project.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | affirmerais | I would affirm | |
| tu | affirmerais | you would affirm | |
| il / elle / on | affirmerait | he / she / it would affirmon: we would affirm / one would affirm | |
| nous | affirmerions | we would affirm | |
| vous | affirmeriez | you would affirm | |
| ils / elles | affirmeraient | they would affirm |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul affirmerait son soutien au projet.
Paul would affirm his support for the project.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | affirme | (that) I affirm | |
| tu | affirmes | (that) you affirm | |
| il / elle / on | affirme | (that) he / she / it affirmson: (that) we affirm / one affirms | |
| nous | affirmions | (that) we affirm | |
| vous | affirmiez | (that) you affirm | |
| ils / elles | affirment | (that) they affirm |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul affirme son soutien au projet.
It is possible that Paul affirms his support for the project.
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 affirm, to claim
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