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 seat.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | assois / assieds | I seat | |
| tu | assois / assieds | you seat | |
| il / elle / on | assoit / assied | he / she / it seatson: we seat / one seats | |
| nous | assoyons / asseyons | we seat | |
| vous | assoyez / asseyez | you seat | |
| ils / elles | assoient / asseyent | they seat |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul assoit son fils sur une chaise.
Paul seats his son on a chair.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai assis | I seated | |
| tu | as assis | you seated | |
| il / elle / on | a assis | he / she / it seatedon: we seated / one seated | |
| nous | avons assis | we seated | |
| vous | avez assis | you seated | |
| ils / elles | ont assis | they seated |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a assis son fils sur une chaise.
Yesterday, Paul seated his son on a chair.
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’ | assoyais / asseyais | I used to seat | |
| tu | assoyais / asseyais | you used to seat | |
| il / elle / on | assoyait / asseyait | he / she / it used to seaton: we used to seat / one used to seat | |
| nous | assoyions / asseyions | we used to seat | |
| vous | assoyiez / asseyiez | you used to seat | |
| ils / elles | assoyaient / asseyaient | they used to seat |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul assoyait son fils sur une chaise.
Back then, Paul used to seat his son on a chair.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | assoirai / assiérai | I will seat | |
| tu | assoiras / assiéras | you will seat | |
| il / elle / on | assoira / assiéra | he / she / it will seaton: we will seat / one will seat | |
| nous | assoirons / assiérons | we will seat | |
| vous | assoirez / assiérez | you will seat | |
| ils / elles | assoiront / assiéront | they will seat |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul assoira son fils sur une chaise.
Later, Paul will seat his son on a chair.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | assoirais / assiérais | I would seat | |
| tu | assoirais / assiérais | you would seat | |
| il / elle / on | assoirait / assiérait | he / she / it would seaton: we would seat / one would seat | |
| nous | assoirions / assiérions | we would seat | |
| vous | assoiriez / assiériez | you would seat | |
| ils / elles | assoiraient / assiéraient | they would seat |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul assoirait son fils sur une chaise.
Paul would seat his son on a chair.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | assoie / asseye | (that) I seat | |
| tu | assoies / asseyes | (that) you seat | |
| il / elle / on | assoie / asseye | (that) he / she / it seatson: (that) we seat / one seats | |
| nous | assoyions / asseyions | (that) we seat | |
| vous | assoyiez / asseyiez | (that) you seat | |
| ils / elles | assoient / asseyent | (that) they seat |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul assoie son fils sur une chaise.
It is possible that Paul seats his son on a chair.
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 sit (someone) down, to seat, make sit
- to assert
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