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 take responsibility for.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | assume | I take responsibility for | |
| tu | assumes | you take responsibility for | |
| il / elle / on | assume | he / she / it takes responsibility foron: we take responsibility for / one takes responsibility for | |
| nous | assumons | we take responsibility for | |
| vous | assumez | you take responsibility for | |
| ils / elles | assument | they take responsibility for |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul assume ses décisions.
Paul takes responsibility for his decisions.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai assumé | I took responsibility for | |
| tu | as assumé | you took responsibility for | |
| il / elle / on | a assumé | he / she / it took responsibility foron: we took responsibility for / one took responsibility for | |
| nous | avons assumé | we took responsibility for | |
| vous | avez assumé | you took responsibility for | |
| ils / elles | ont assumé | they took responsibility for |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a assumé ses décisions.
Yesterday, Paul took responsibility for his decisions.
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’ | assumais | I used to take responsibility for | |
| tu | assumais | you used to take responsibility for | |
| il / elle / on | assumait | he / she / it used to take responsibility foron: we used to take responsibility for / one used to take responsibility for | |
| nous | assumions | we used to take responsibility for | |
| vous | assumiez | you used to take responsibility for | |
| ils / elles | assumaient | they used to take responsibility for |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul assumait ses décisions.
Back then, Paul used to take responsibility for his decisions.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | assumerai | I will take responsibility for | |
| tu | assumeras | you will take responsibility for | |
| il / elle / on | assumera | he / she / it will take responsibility foron: we will take responsibility for / one will take responsibility for | |
| nous | assumerons | we will take responsibility for | |
| vous | assumerez | you will take responsibility for | |
| ils / elles | assumeront | they will take responsibility for |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul assumera ses décisions.
Later, Paul will take responsibility for his decisions.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | assumerais | I would take responsibility for | |
| tu | assumerais | you would take responsibility for | |
| il / elle / on | assumerait | he / she / it would take responsibility foron: we would take responsibility for / one would take responsibility for | |
| nous | assumerions | we would take responsibility for | |
| vous | assumeriez | you would take responsibility for | |
| ils / elles | assumeraient | they would take responsibility for |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul assumerait ses décisions.
Paul would take responsibility for his decisions.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | assume | (that) I take responsibility for | |
| tu | assumes | (that) you take responsibility for | |
| il / elle / on | assume | (that) he / she / it takes responsibility foron: (that) we take responsibility for / one takes responsibility for | |
| nous | assumions | (that) we take responsibility for | |
| vous | assumiez | (that) you take responsibility for | |
| ils / elles | assument | (that) they take responsibility for |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul assume ses décisions.
It is possible that Paul takes responsibility for his decisions.
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
- embrace; accept; own
- assume (take on a role)
- synonym of présumer (“to assume; to presume”)
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