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 act.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | agis | I act | |
| tu | agis | you act | |
| il / elle / on | agit | he / she / it actson: we act / one acts | |
| nous | agissons | we act | |
| vous | agissez | you act | |
| ils / elles | agissent | they act |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul agit avec prudence.
Paul acts cautiously.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai agi | I acted | |
| tu | as agi | you acted | |
| il / elle / on | a agi | he / she / it actedon: we acted / one acted | |
| nous | avons agi | we acted | |
| vous | avez agi | you acted | |
| ils / elles | ont agi | they acted |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a agi avec prudence.
Yesterday, Paul acted cautiously.
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’ | agissais | I used to act | |
| tu | agissais | you used to act | |
| il / elle / on | agissait | he / she / it used to acton: we used to act / one used to act | |
| nous | agissions | we used to act | |
| vous | agissiez | you used to act | |
| ils / elles | agissaient | they used to act |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul agissait avec prudence.
Back then, Paul used to act cautiously.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | agirai | I will act | |
| tu | agiras | you will act | |
| il / elle / on | agira | he / she / it will acton: we will act / one will act | |
| nous | agirons | we will act | |
| vous | agirez | you will act | |
| ils / elles | agiront | they will act |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul agira avec prudence.
Later, Paul will act cautiously.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | agirais | I would act | |
| tu | agirais | you would act | |
| il / elle / on | agirait | he / she / it would acton: we would act / one would act | |
| nous | agirions | we would act | |
| vous | agiriez | you would act | |
| ils / elles | agiraient | they would act |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul agirait avec prudence.
Paul would act cautiously.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | agisse | (that) I act | |
| tu | agisses | (that) you act | |
| il / elle / on | agisse | (that) he / she / it actson: (that) we act / one acts | |
| nous | agissions | (that) we act | |
| vous | agissiez | (that) you act | |
| ils / elles | agissent | (that) they act |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul agisse avec prudence.
It is possible that Paul acts cautiously.
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 act, to do (something)
- to work, to have an effect; (followed by sur) to act (on)
- to act, behave
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