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 swallow.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | avale | I swallow | |
| tu | avales | you swallow | |
| il / elle / on | avale | he / she / it swallowson: we swallow / one swallows | |
| nous | avalons | we swallow | |
| vous | avalez | you swallow | |
| ils / elles | avalent | they swallow |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul avale une gorgée d'eau.
Paul swallows a mouthful of water.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai avalé | I swallowed | |
| tu | as avalé | you swallowed | |
| il / elle / on | a avalé | he / she / it swallowedon: we swallowed / one swallowed | |
| nous | avons avalé | we swallowed | |
| vous | avez avalé | you swallowed | |
| ils / elles | ont avalé | they swallowed |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a avalé une gorgée d'eau.
Yesterday, Paul swallowed a mouthful of water.
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’ | avalais | I used to swallow | |
| tu | avalais | you used to swallow | |
| il / elle / on | avalait | he / she / it used to swallowon: we used to swallow / one used to swallow | |
| nous | avalions | we used to swallow | |
| vous | avaliez | you used to swallow | |
| ils / elles | avalaient | they used to swallow |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul avalait une gorgée d'eau.
Back then, Paul used to swallow a mouthful of water.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | avalerai | I will swallow | |
| tu | avaleras | you will swallow | |
| il / elle / on | avalera | he / she / it will swallowon: we will swallow / one will swallow | |
| nous | avalerons | we will swallow | |
| vous | avalerez | you will swallow | |
| ils / elles | avaleront | they will swallow |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul avalera une gorgée d'eau.
Later, Paul will swallow a mouthful of water.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | avalerais | I would swallow | |
| tu | avalerais | you would swallow | |
| il / elle / on | avalerait | he / she / it would swallowon: we would swallow / one would swallow | |
| nous | avalerions | we would swallow | |
| vous | avaleriez | you would swallow | |
| ils / elles | avaleraient | they would swallow |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul avalerait une gorgée d'eau.
Paul would swallow a mouthful of water.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | avale | (that) I swallow | |
| tu | avales | (that) you swallow | |
| il / elle / on | avale | (that) he / she / it swallowson: (that) we swallow / one swallows | |
| nous | avalions | (that) we swallow | |
| vous | avaliez | (that) you swallow | |
| ils / elles | avalent | (that) they swallow |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul avale une gorgée d'eau.
It is possible that Paul swallows a mouthful of water.
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 swallow
- to believe
- to support
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