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 break.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | brise | I break | |
| tu | brises | you break | |
| il / elle / on | brise | he / she / it breakson: we break / one breaks | |
| nous | brisons | we break | |
| vous | brisez | you break | |
| ils / elles | brisent | they break |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Le vent brise une branche du vieux chêne.
The wind breaks a branch of the old oak tree.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai brisé | I broke | |
| tu | as brisé | you broke | |
| il / elle / on | a brisé | he / she / it brokeon: we broke / one broke | |
| nous | avons brisé | we broke | |
| vous | avez brisé | you broke | |
| ils / elles | ont brisé | they broke |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, le vent a brisé une branche du vieux chêne.
Yesterday, the wind broke a branch of the old oak tree.
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’ | brisais | I used to break | |
| tu | brisais | you used to break | |
| il / elle / on | brisait | he / she / it used to breakon: we used to break / one used to break | |
| nous | brisions | we used to break | |
| vous | brisiez | you used to break | |
| ils / elles | brisaient | they used to break |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, le vent brisait une branche du vieux chêne.
Back then, the wind used to break a branch of the old oak tree.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | briserai | I will break | |
| tu | briseras | you will break | |
| il / elle / on | brisera | he / she / it will breakon: we will break / one will break | |
| nous | briserons | we will break | |
| vous | briserez | you will break | |
| ils / elles | briseront | they will break |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, le vent brisera une branche du vieux chêne.
Later, the wind will break a branch of the old oak tree.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | briserais | I would break | |
| tu | briserais | you would break | |
| il / elle / on | briserait | he / she / it would breakon: we would break / one would break | |
| nous | briserions | we would break | |
| vous | briseriez | you would break | |
| ils / elles | briseraient | they would break |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Le vent briserait une branche du vieux chêne.
The wind would break a branch of the old oak tree.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | brise | (that) I break | |
| tu | brises | (that) you break | |
| il / elle / on | brise | (that) he / she / it breakson: (that) we break / one breaks | |
| nous | brisions | (that) we break | |
| vous | brisiez | (that) you break | |
| ils / elles | brisent | (that) they break |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que le vent brise une branche du vieux chêne.
It is possible that the wind breaks a branch of the old oak tree.
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 break; snap
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