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 deepen.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | approfondis | I deepen | |
| tu | approfondis | you deepen | |
| il / elle / on | approfondit | he / she / it deepenson: we deepen / one deepens | |
| nous | approfondissons | we deepen | |
| vous | approfondissez | you deepen | |
| ils / elles | approfondissent | they deepen |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul approfondit ses connaissances en histoire.
Paul deepens his knowledge of history.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai approfondi | I deepened | |
| tu | as approfondi | you deepened | |
| il / elle / on | a approfondi | he / she / it deepenedon: we deepened / one deepened | |
| nous | avons approfondi | we deepened | |
| vous | avez approfondi | you deepened | |
| ils / elles | ont approfondi | they deepened |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a approfondi ses connaissances en histoire.
Yesterday, Paul deepened his knowledge of history.
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’ | approfondissais | I used to deepen | |
| tu | approfondissais | you used to deepen | |
| il / elle / on | approfondissait | he / she / it used to deepenon: we used to deepen / one used to deepen | |
| nous | approfondissions | we used to deepen | |
| vous | approfondissiez | you used to deepen | |
| ils / elles | approfondissaient | they used to deepen |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul approfondissait ses connaissances en histoire.
Back then, Paul used to deepen his knowledge of history.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | approfondirai | I will deepen | |
| tu | approfondiras | you will deepen | |
| il / elle / on | approfondira | he / she / it will deepenon: we will deepen / one will deepen | |
| nous | approfondirons | we will deepen | |
| vous | approfondirez | you will deepen | |
| ils / elles | approfondiront | they will deepen |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul approfondira ses connaissances en histoire.
Later, Paul will deepen his knowledge of history.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | approfondirais | I would deepen | |
| tu | approfondirais | you would deepen | |
| il / elle / on | approfondirait | he / she / it would deepenon: we would deepen / one would deepen | |
| nous | approfondirions | we would deepen | |
| vous | approfondiriez | you would deepen | |
| ils / elles | approfondiraient | they would deepen |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul approfondirait ses connaissances en histoire.
Paul would deepen his knowledge of history.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | approfondisse | (that) I deepen | |
| tu | approfondisses | (that) you deepen | |
| il / elle / on | approfondisse | (that) he / she / it deepenson: (that) we deepen / one deepens | |
| nous | approfondissions | (that) we deepen | |
| vous | approfondissiez | (that) you deepen | |
| ils / elles | approfondissent | (that) they deepen |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul approfondisse ses connaissances en histoire.
It is possible that Paul deepens his knowledge of history.
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 deepen
- to consider more thoroughly, to delve deeper into
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