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 plug.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | bouche | I plug | |
| tu | bouches | you plug | |
| il / elle / on | bouche | he / she / it plugson: we plug / one plugs | |
| nous | bouchons | we plug | |
| vous | bouchez | you plug | |
| ils / elles | bouchent | they plug |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul bouche le trou avec un morceau de liège.
Paul plugs the hole with a piece of cork.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai bouché | I plugged | |
| tu | as bouché | you plugged | |
| il / elle / on | a bouché | he / she / it pluggedon: we plugged / one plugged | |
| nous | avons bouché | we plugged | |
| vous | avez bouché | you plugged | |
| ils / elles | ont bouché | they plugged |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a bouché le trou avec un morceau de liège.
Yesterday, Paul plugged the hole with a piece of cork.
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’ | bouchais | I used to plug | |
| tu | bouchais | you used to plug | |
| il / elle / on | bouchait | he / she / it used to plugon: we used to plug / one used to plug | |
| nous | bouchions | we used to plug | |
| vous | bouchiez | you used to plug | |
| ils / elles | bouchaient | they used to plug |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul bouchait le trou avec un morceau de liège.
Back then, Paul used to plug the hole with a piece of cork.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | boucherai | I will plug | |
| tu | boucheras | you will plug | |
| il / elle / on | bouchera | he / she / it will plugon: we will plug / one will plug | |
| nous | boucherons | we will plug | |
| vous | boucherez | you will plug | |
| ils / elles | boucheront | they will plug |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul bouchera le trou avec un morceau de liège.
Later, Paul will plug the hole with a piece of cork.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | boucherais | I would plug | |
| tu | boucherais | you would plug | |
| il / elle / on | boucherait | he / she / it would plugon: we would plug / one would plug | |
| nous | boucherions | we would plug | |
| vous | boucheriez | you would plug | |
| ils / elles | boucheraient | they would plug |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul boucherait le trou avec un morceau de liège.
Paul would plug the hole with a piece of cork.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | bouche | (that) I plug | |
| tu | bouches | (that) you plug | |
| il / elle / on | bouche | (that) he / she / it plugson: (that) we plug / one plugs | |
| nous | bouchions | (that) we plug | |
| vous | bouchiez | (that) you plug | |
| ils / elles | bouchent | (that) they plug |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul bouche le trou avec un morceau de liège.
It is possible that Paul plugs the hole with a piece of cork.
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 cork up
- to bung
- to block up
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