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 pick up.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | capte | I pick up | |
| tu | captes | you pick up | |
| il / elle / on | capte | he / she / it picks upon: we pick up / one picks up | |
| nous | captons | we pick up | |
| vous | captez | you pick up | |
| ils / elles | captent | they pick up |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Le récepteur capte le signal radio.
The receiver picks up the radio signal.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai capté | I picked up | |
| tu | as capté | you picked up | |
| il / elle / on | a capté | he / she / it picked upon: we picked up / one picked up | |
| nous | avons capté | we picked up | |
| vous | avez capté | you picked up | |
| ils / elles | ont capté | they picked up |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, le récepteur a capté le signal radio.
Yesterday, the receiver picked up the radio signal.
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’ | captais | I used to pick up | |
| tu | captais | you used to pick up | |
| il / elle / on | captait | he / she / it used to pick upon: we used to pick up / one used to pick up | |
| nous | captions | we used to pick up | |
| vous | captiez | you used to pick up | |
| ils / elles | captaient | they used to pick up |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, le récepteur captait le signal radio.
Back then, the receiver used to pick up the radio signal.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | capterai | I will pick up | |
| tu | capteras | you will pick up | |
| il / elle / on | captera | he / she / it will pick upon: we will pick up / one will pick up | |
| nous | capterons | we will pick up | |
| vous | capterez | you will pick up | |
| ils / elles | capteront | they will pick up |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, le récepteur captera le signal radio.
Later, the receiver will pick up the radio signal.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | capterais | I would pick up | |
| tu | capterais | you would pick up | |
| il / elle / on | capterait | he / she / it would pick upon: we would pick up / one would pick up | |
| nous | capterions | we would pick up | |
| vous | capteriez | you would pick up | |
| ils / elles | capteraient | they would pick up |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Le récepteur capterait le signal radio.
The receiver would pick up the radio signal.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | capte | (that) I pick up | |
| tu | captes | (that) you pick up | |
| il / elle / on | capte | (that) he / she / it picks upon: (that) we pick up / one picks up | |
| nous | captions | (that) we pick up | |
| vous | captiez | (that) you pick up | |
| ils / elles | captent | (that) they pick up |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que le récepteur capte le signal radio.
It is possible that the receiver picks up the radio signal.
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 capture, to catch, to pick up
- to detect, to sense, to receive
- to understand
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