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 associate.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | associe | I associate | |
| tu | associes | you associate | |
| il / elle / on | associe | he / she / it associateson: we associate / one associates | |
| nous | associons | we associate | |
| vous | associez | you associate | |
| ils / elles | associent | they associate |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul associe cette chanson à son enfance.
Paul associates this song with his childhood.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai associé | I associated | |
| tu | as associé | you associated | |
| il / elle / on | a associé | he / she / it associatedon: we associated / one associated | |
| nous | avons associé | we associated | |
| vous | avez associé | you associated | |
| ils / elles | ont associé | they associated |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a associé cette chanson à son enfance.
Yesterday, Paul associated this song with his childhood.
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’ | associais | I used to associate | |
| tu | associais | you used to associate | |
| il / elle / on | associait | he / she / it used to associateon: we used to associate / one used to associate | |
| nous | associions | we used to associate | |
| vous | associiez | you used to associate | |
| ils / elles | associaient | they used to associate |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul associait cette chanson à son enfance.
Back then, Paul used to associate this song with his childhood.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | associerai | I will associate | |
| tu | associeras | you will associate | |
| il / elle / on | associera | he / she / it will associateon: we will associate / one will associate | |
| nous | associerons | we will associate | |
| vous | associerez | you will associate | |
| ils / elles | associeront | they will associate |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul associera cette chanson à son enfance.
Later, Paul will associate this song with his childhood.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | associerais | I would associate | |
| tu | associerais | you would associate | |
| il / elle / on | associerait | he / she / it would associateon: we would associate / one would associate | |
| nous | associerions | we would associate | |
| vous | associeriez | you would associate | |
| ils / elles | associeraient | they would associate |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul associerait cette chanson à son enfance.
Paul would associate this song with his childhood.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | associe | (that) I associate | |
| tu | associes | (that) you associate | |
| il / elle / on | associe | (that) he / she / it associateson: (that) we associate / one associates | |
| nous | associions | (that) we associate | |
| vous | associiez | (that) you associate | |
| ils / elles | associent | (that) they associate |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul associe cette chanson à son enfance.
It is possible that Paul associates this song with his childhood.
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 associate
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