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 come up against.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | bute | I come up against | |
| tu | butes | you come up against | |
| il / elle / on | bute | he / she / it comes up againston: we come up against / one comes up against | |
| nous | butons | we come up against | |
| vous | butez | you come up against | |
| ils / elles | butent | they come up against |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul bute sur un obstacle imprévu.
Paul comes up against an unexpected obstacle.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai buté | I came up against | |
| tu | as buté | you came up against | |
| il / elle / on | a buté | he / she / it came up againston: we came up against / one came up against | |
| nous | avons buté | we came up against | |
| vous | avez buté | you came up against | |
| ils / elles | ont buté | they came up against |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a buté sur un obstacle imprévu.
Yesterday, Paul came up against an unexpected obstacle.
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’ | butais | I used to come up against | |
| tu | butais | you used to come up against | |
| il / elle / on | butait | he / she / it used to come up againston: we used to come up against / one used to come up against | |
| nous | butions | we used to come up against | |
| vous | butiez | you used to come up against | |
| ils / elles | butaient | they used to come up against |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul butait sur un obstacle imprévu.
Back then, Paul used to come up against an unexpected obstacle.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | buterai | I will come up against | |
| tu | buteras | you will come up against | |
| il / elle / on | butera | he / she / it will come up againston: we will come up against / one will come up against | |
| nous | buterons | we will come up against | |
| vous | buterez | you will come up against | |
| ils / elles | buteront | they will come up against |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul butera sur un obstacle imprévu.
Later, Paul will come up against an unexpected obstacle.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | buterais | I would come up against | |
| tu | buterais | you would come up against | |
| il / elle / on | buterait | he / she / it would come up againston: we would come up against / one would come up against | |
| nous | buterions | we would come up against | |
| vous | buteriez | you would come up against | |
| ils / elles | buteraient | they would come up against |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul buterait sur un obstacle imprévu.
Paul would come up against an unexpected obstacle.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | bute | (that) I come up against | |
| tu | butes | (that) you come up against | |
| il / elle / on | bute | (that) he / she / it comes up againston: (that) we come up against / one comes up against | |
| nous | butions | (that) we come up against | |
| vous | butiez | (that) you come up against | |
| ils / elles | butent | (that) they come up against |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul bute sur un obstacle imprévu.
It is possible that Paul comes up against an unexpected obstacle.
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.”
Buter sur un obstacle means encounter an obstacle or come up against it.
Meaning & usage
- to stop dead
- to prop up, buttress
- to kill
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