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 capture.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | capture | I capture | |
| tu | captures | you capture | |
| il / elle / on | capture | he / she / it captureson: we capture / one captures | |
| nous | capturons | we capture | |
| vous | capturez | you capture | |
| ils / elles | capturent | they capture |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Le garde capture l'animal échappé.
The guard captures the escaped animal.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai capturé | I captured | |
| tu | as capturé | you captured | |
| il / elle / on | a capturé | he / she / it capturedon: we captured / one captured | |
| nous | avons capturé | we captured | |
| vous | avez capturé | you captured | |
| ils / elles | ont capturé | they captured |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, le garde a capturé l'animal échappé.
Yesterday, the guard captured the escaped animal.
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’ | capturais | I used to capture | |
| tu | capturais | you used to capture | |
| il / elle / on | capturait | he / she / it used to captureon: we used to capture / one used to capture | |
| nous | capturions | we used to capture | |
| vous | capturiez | you used to capture | |
| ils / elles | capturaient | they used to capture |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, le garde capturait l'animal échappé.
Back then, the guard used to capture the escaped animal.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | capturerai | I will capture | |
| tu | captureras | you will capture | |
| il / elle / on | capturera | he / she / it will captureon: we will capture / one will capture | |
| nous | capturerons | we will capture | |
| vous | capturerez | you will capture | |
| ils / elles | captureront | they will capture |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, le garde capturera l'animal échappé.
Later, the guard will capture the escaped animal.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | capturerais | I would capture | |
| tu | capturerais | you would capture | |
| il / elle / on | capturerait | he / she / it would captureon: we would capture / one would capture | |
| nous | capturerions | we would capture | |
| vous | captureriez | you would capture | |
| ils / elles | captureraient | they would capture |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Le garde capturerait l'animal échappé.
The guard would capture the escaped animal.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | capture | (that) I capture | |
| tu | captures | (that) you capture | |
| il / elle / on | capture | (that) he / she / it captureson: (that) we capture / one captures | |
| nous | capturions | (that) we capture | |
| vous | capturiez | (that) you capture | |
| ils / elles | capturent | (that) they capture |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que le garde capture l'animal échappé.
It is possible that the guard captures the escaped animal.
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 (catch, seize e.g. an enemy)
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