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 admit.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | avoue | I admit | |
| tu | avoues | you admit | |
| il / elle / on | avoue | he / she / it admitson: we admit / one admits | |
| nous | avouons | we admit | |
| vous | avouez | you admit | |
| ils / elles | avouent | they admit |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul avoue son erreur.
Paul admits his mistake.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai avoué | I admitted | |
| tu | as avoué | you admitted | |
| il / elle / on | a avoué | he / she / it admittedon: we admitted / one admitted | |
| nous | avons avoué | we admitted | |
| vous | avez avoué | you admitted | |
| ils / elles | ont avoué | they admitted |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a avoué son erreur.
Yesterday, Paul admitted his mistake.
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’ | avouais | I used to admit | |
| tu | avouais | you used to admit | |
| il / elle / on | avouait | he / she / it used to admiton: we used to admit / one used to admit | |
| nous | avouions | we used to admit | |
| vous | avouiez | you used to admit | |
| ils / elles | avouaient | they used to admit |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul avouait son erreur.
Back then, Paul used to admit his mistake.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | avouerai | I will admit | |
| tu | avoueras | you will admit | |
| il / elle / on | avouera | he / she / it will admiton: we will admit / one will admit | |
| nous | avouerons | we will admit | |
| vous | avouerez | you will admit | |
| ils / elles | avoueront | they will admit |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul avouera son erreur.
Later, Paul will admit his mistake.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | avouerais | I would admit | |
| tu | avouerais | you would admit | |
| il / elle / on | avouerait | he / she / it would admiton: we would admit / one would admit | |
| nous | avouerions | we would admit | |
| vous | avoueriez | you would admit | |
| ils / elles | avoueraient | they would admit |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul avouerait son erreur.
Paul would admit his mistake.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | avoue | (that) I admit | |
| tu | avoues | (that) you admit | |
| il / elle / on | avoue | (that) he / she / it admitson: (that) we admit / one admits | |
| nous | avouions | (that) we admit | |
| vous | avouiez | (that) you admit | |
| ils / elles | avouent | (that) they admit |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul avoue son erreur.
It is possible that Paul admits his mistake.
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 avow
- to confess
- to approve
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