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 bar.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | barre | I bar | |
| tu | barres | you bar | |
| il / elle / on | barre | he / she / it barson: we bar / one bars | |
| nous | barrons | we bar | |
| vous | barrez | you bar | |
| ils / elles | barrent | they bar |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul barre la porte avec une poutre.
Paul bars the door with a beam.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai barré | I barred | |
| tu | as barré | you barred | |
| il / elle / on | a barré | he / she / it barredon: we barred / one barred | |
| nous | avons barré | we barred | |
| vous | avez barré | you barred | |
| ils / elles | ont barré | they barred |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a barré la porte avec une poutre.
Yesterday, Paul barred the door with a beam.
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’ | barrais | I used to bar | |
| tu | barrais | you used to bar | |
| il / elle / on | barrait | he / she / it used to baron: we used to bar / one used to bar | |
| nous | barrions | we used to bar | |
| vous | barriez | you used to bar | |
| ils / elles | barraient | they used to bar |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul barrait la porte avec une poutre.
Back then, Paul used to bar the door with a beam.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | barrerai | I will bar | |
| tu | barreras | you will bar | |
| il / elle / on | barrera | he / she / it will baron: we will bar / one will bar | |
| nous | barrerons | we will bar | |
| vous | barrerez | you will bar | |
| ils / elles | barreront | they will bar |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul barrera la porte avec une poutre.
Later, Paul will bar the door with a beam.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | barrerais | I would bar | |
| tu | barrerais | you would bar | |
| il / elle / on | barrerait | he / she / it would baron: we would bar / one would bar | |
| nous | barrerions | we would bar | |
| vous | barreriez | you would bar | |
| ils / elles | barreraient | they would bar |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul barrerait la porte avec une poutre.
Paul would bar the door with a beam.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | barre | (that) I bar | |
| tu | barres | (that) you bar | |
| il / elle / on | barre | (that) he / she / it barson: (that) we bar / one bars | |
| nous | barrions | (that) we bar | |
| vous | barriez | (that) you bar | |
| ils / elles | barrent | (that) they bar |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul barre la porte avec une poutre.
It is possible that Paul bars the door with a beam.
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 bar, bar up (to lock or bolt with a bar)
- to bar off
- to cross out, strike out (put written lines through written text, to show it is erroneous)
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