apercevoir: conjugation and meaning

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 catch sight of.”

Present Présent

Habits, current states, and actions happening now.

apercevoir: Present, with English translations
Subject	French	English
je / j’	aperçois	I catch sight of
tu	aperçois	you catch sight of
il / elle / on	aperçoit	he / she / it catches sight ofon: we catch sight of / one catches sight of
nous	apercevons	we catch sight of
vous	apercevez	you catch sight of
ils / elles	aperçoivent	they catch sight of

IN A SENTENCEPresent example

Paul aperçoit un bateau à l'horizon.

Paul catches sight of a boat on the horizon.

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Passé composé

Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.

apercevoir: Passé composé, with English translations
Subject	French	English
je / j’	ai aperçu	I caught sight of
tu	as aperçu	you caught sight of
il / elle / on	a aperçu	he / she / it caught sight ofon: we caught sight of / one caught sight of
nous	avons aperçu	we caught sight of
vous	avez aperçu	you caught sight of
ils / elles	ont aperçu	they caught sight of

IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example

Hier, Paul a aperçu un bateau à l'horizon.

Yesterday, Paul caught sight of a boat on the horizon.

The passé composé uses avoir. The table shows the unmarked participle; agreement with a preceding direct object is outside this reference.

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Imperfect Imparfait

Past habits, descriptions, and actions in progress.

apercevoir: Imperfect, with English translations
Subject	French	English
je / j’	apercevais	I used to catch sight of
tu	apercevais	you used to catch sight of
il / elle / on	apercevait	he / she / it used to catch sight ofon: we used to catch sight of / one used to catch sight of
nous	apercevions	we used to catch sight of
vous	aperceviez	you used to catch sight of
ils / elles	apercevaient	they used to catch sight of

IN A SENTENCEImperfect example

Autrefois, Paul apercevait un bateau à l'horizon.

Back then, Paul used to catch sight of a boat on the horizon.

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Future Futur simple

Future events and predictions.

apercevoir: Future, with English translations
Subject	French	English
je / j’	apercevrai	I will catch sight of
tu	apercevras	you will catch sight of
il / elle / on	apercevra	he / she / it will catch sight ofon: we will catch sight of / one will catch sight of
nous	apercevrons	we will catch sight of
vous	apercevrez	you will catch sight of
ils / elles	apercevront	they will catch sight of

IN A SENTENCEFuture example

Plus tard, Paul apercevra un bateau à l'horizon.

Later, Paul will catch sight of a boat on the horizon.

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Conditional Conditionnel présent

Hypothetical events and polite requests.

apercevoir: Conditional, with English translations
Subject	French	English
je / j’	apercevrais	I would catch sight of
tu	apercevrais	you would catch sight of
il / elle / on	apercevrait	he / she / it would catch sight ofon: we would catch sight of / one would catch sight of
nous	apercevrions	we would catch sight of
vous	apercevriez	you would catch sight of
ils / elles	apercevraient	they would catch sight of

IN A SENTENCEConditional example

Paul apercevrait un bateau à l'horizon.

Paul would catch sight of a boat on the horizon.

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Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent

Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.

apercevoir: Present subjunctive, with English translations
Subject	French	English
je / j’	aperçoive	(that) I catch sight of
tu	aperçoives	(that) you catch sight of
il / elle / on	aperçoive	(that) he / she / it catches sight ofon: (that) we catch sight of / one catches sight of
nous	apercevions	(that) we catch sight of
vous	aperceviez	(that) you catch sight of
ils / elles	aperçoivent	(that) they catch sight of

IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example

Il est possible que Paul aperçoive un bateau à l'horizon.

It is possible that Paul catches sight of a boat on the horizon.

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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 see, to glimpse, to catch sight of

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