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 shine.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | brille | I shine | |
| tu | brilles | you shine | |
| il / elle / on | brille | he / she / it shineson: we shine / one shines | |
| nous | brillons | we shine | |
| vous | brillez | you shine | |
| ils / elles | brillent | they shine |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Le soleil brille au-dessus de la mer.
The sun shines over the sea.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai brillé | I shone | |
| tu | as brillé | you shone | |
| il / elle / on | a brillé | he / she / it shoneon: we shone / one shone | |
| nous | avons brillé | we shone | |
| vous | avez brillé | you shone | |
| ils / elles | ont brillé | they shone |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, le soleil a brillé au-dessus de la mer.
Yesterday, the sun shone over the sea.
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’ | brillais | I used to shine | |
| tu | brillais | you used to shine | |
| il / elle / on | brillait | he / she / it used to shineon: we used to shine / one used to shine | |
| nous | brillions | we used to shine | |
| vous | brilliez | you used to shine | |
| ils / elles | brillaient | they used to shine |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, le soleil brillait au-dessus de la mer.
Back then, the sun used to shine over the sea.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | brillerai | I will shine | |
| tu | brilleras | you will shine | |
| il / elle / on | brillera | he / she / it will shineon: we will shine / one will shine | |
| nous | brillerons | we will shine | |
| vous | brillerez | you will shine | |
| ils / elles | brilleront | they will shine |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, le soleil brillera au-dessus de la mer.
Later, the sun will shine over the sea.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | brillerais | I would shine | |
| tu | brillerais | you would shine | |
| il / elle / on | brillerait | he / she / it would shineon: we would shine / one would shine | |
| nous | brillerions | we would shine | |
| vous | brilleriez | you would shine | |
| ils / elles | brilleraient | they would shine |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Le soleil brillerait au-dessus de la mer.
The sun would shine over the sea.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | brille | (that) I shine | |
| tu | brilles | (that) you shine | |
| il / elle / on | brille | (that) he / she / it shineson: (that) we shine / one shines | |
| nous | brillions | (that) we shine | |
| vous | brilliez | (that) you shine | |
| ils / elles | brillent | (that) they shine |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que le soleil brille au-dessus de la mer.
It is possible that the sun shines over the sea.
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 shine, to sparkle
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