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 approach.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | approche | I approach | |
| tu | approches | you approach | |
| il / elle / on | approche | he / she / it approacheson: we approach / one approaches | |
| nous | approchons | we approach | |
| vous | approchez | you approach | |
| ils / elles | approchent | they approach |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Le bateau approche du port.
The boat approaches the harbour.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai approché | I approached | |
| tu | as approché | you approached | |
| il / elle / on | a approché | he / she / it approachedon: we approached / one approached | |
| nous | avons approché | we approached | |
| vous | avez approché | you approached | |
| ils / elles | ont approché | they approached |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, le bateau a approché du port.
Yesterday, the boat approached the harbour.
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’ | approchais | I used to approach | |
| tu | approchais | you used to approach | |
| il / elle / on | approchait | he / she / it used to approachon: we used to approach / one used to approach | |
| nous | approchions | we used to approach | |
| vous | approchiez | you used to approach | |
| ils / elles | approchaient | they used to approach |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, le bateau approchait du port.
Back then, the boat used to approach the harbour.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | approcherai | I will approach | |
| tu | approcheras | you will approach | |
| il / elle / on | approchera | he / she / it will approachon: we will approach / one will approach | |
| nous | approcherons | we will approach | |
| vous | approcherez | you will approach | |
| ils / elles | approcheront | they will approach |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, le bateau approchera du port.
Later, the boat will approach the harbour.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | approcherais | I would approach | |
| tu | approcherais | you would approach | |
| il / elle / on | approcherait | he / she / it would approachon: we would approach / one would approach | |
| nous | approcherions | we would approach | |
| vous | approcheriez | you would approach | |
| ils / elles | approcheraient | they would approach |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Le bateau approcherait du port.
The boat would approach the harbour.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | approche | (that) I approach | |
| tu | approches | (that) you approach | |
| il / elle / on | approche | (that) he / she / it approacheson: (that) we approach / one approaches | |
| nous | approchions | (that) we approach | |
| vous | approchiez | (that) you approach | |
| ils / elles | approchent | (that) they approach |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que le bateau approche du port.
It is possible that the boat approaches the harbour.
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 approach, to come close to, to move towards
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