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 adapt.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | approprie | I adapt | |
| tu | appropries | you adapt | |
| il / elle / on | approprie | he / she / it adaptson: we adapt / one adapts | |
| nous | approprions | we adapt | |
| vous | appropriez | you adapt | |
| ils / elles | approprient | they adapt |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul approprie son discours aux circonstances.
Paul adapts his speech to the circumstances.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai approprié | I adapted | |
| tu | as approprié | you adapted | |
| il / elle / on | a approprié | he / she / it adaptedon: we adapted / one adapted | |
| nous | avons approprié | we adapted | |
| vous | avez approprié | you adapted | |
| ils / elles | ont approprié | they adapted |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a approprié son discours aux circonstances.
Yesterday, Paul adapted his speech to the circumstances.
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’ | appropriais | I used to adapt | |
| tu | appropriais | you used to adapt | |
| il / elle / on | appropriait | he / she / it used to adapton: we used to adapt / one used to adapt | |
| nous | appropriions | we used to adapt | |
| vous | appropriiez | you used to adapt | |
| ils / elles | appropriaient | they used to adapt |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul appropriait son discours aux circonstances.
Back then, Paul used to adapt his speech to the circumstances.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | approprierai | I will adapt | |
| tu | approprieras | you will adapt | |
| il / elle / on | appropriera | he / she / it will adapton: we will adapt / one will adapt | |
| nous | approprierons | we will adapt | |
| vous | approprierez | you will adapt | |
| ils / elles | approprieront | they will adapt |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul appropriera son discours aux circonstances.
Later, Paul will adapt his speech to the circumstances.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | approprierais | I would adapt | |
| tu | approprierais | you would adapt | |
| il / elle / on | approprierait | he / she / it would adapton: we would adapt / one would adapt | |
| nous | approprierions | we would adapt | |
| vous | approprieriez | you would adapt | |
| ils / elles | approprieraient | they would adapt |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul approprierait son discours aux circonstances.
Paul would adapt his speech to the circumstances.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | approprie | (that) I adapt | |
| tu | appropries | (that) you adapt | |
| il / elle / on | approprie | (that) he / she / it adaptson: (that) we adapt / one adapts | |
| nous | appropriions | (that) we adapt | |
| vous | appropriiez | (that) you adapt | |
| ils / elles | approprient | (that) they adapt |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul approprie son discours aux circonstances.
It is possible that Paul adapts his speech to the circumstances.
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.”
The transitive meaning is adapt something to a purpose or situation. Do not confuse it with s’approprier, meaning take something for oneself.
Meaning & usage
- to adapt (something) to a situation
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