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 align.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | aligne | I align | |
| tu | alignes | you align | |
| il / elle / on | aligne | he / she / it alignson: we align / one aligns | |
| nous | alignons | we align | |
| vous | alignez | you align | |
| ils / elles | alignent | they align |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul aligne les chaises contre le mur.
Paul aligns the chairs along the wall.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai aligné | I aligned | |
| tu | as aligné | you aligned | |
| il / elle / on | a aligné | he / she / it alignedon: we aligned / one aligned | |
| nous | avons aligné | we aligned | |
| vous | avez aligné | you aligned | |
| ils / elles | ont aligné | they aligned |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a aligné les chaises contre le mur.
Yesterday, Paul aligned the chairs along the wall.
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’ | alignais | I used to align | |
| tu | alignais | you used to align | |
| il / elle / on | alignait | he / she / it used to alignon: we used to align / one used to align | |
| nous | alignions | we used to align | |
| vous | aligniez | you used to align | |
| ils / elles | alignaient | they used to align |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul alignait les chaises contre le mur.
Back then, Paul used to align the chairs along the wall.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | alignerai | I will align | |
| tu | aligneras | you will align | |
| il / elle / on | alignera | he / she / it will alignon: we will align / one will align | |
| nous | alignerons | we will align | |
| vous | alignerez | you will align | |
| ils / elles | aligneront | they will align |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul alignera les chaises contre le mur.
Later, Paul will align the chairs along the wall.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | alignerais | I would align | |
| tu | alignerais | you would align | |
| il / elle / on | alignerait | he / she / it would alignon: we would align / one would align | |
| nous | alignerions | we would align | |
| vous | aligneriez | you would align | |
| ils / elles | aligneraient | they would align |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul alignerait les chaises contre le mur.
Paul would align the chairs along the wall.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | aligne | (that) I align | |
| tu | alignes | (that) you align | |
| il / elle / on | aligne | (that) he / she / it alignson: (that) we align / one aligns | |
| nous | alignions | (that) we align | |
| vous | aligniez | (that) you align | |
| ils / elles | alignent | (that) they align |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul aligne les chaises contre le mur.
It is possible that Paul aligns the chairs along the wall.
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 align
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