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 stroke.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | caresse | I stroke | |
| tu | caresses | you stroke | |
| il / elle / on | caresse | he / she / it strokeson: we stroke / one strokes | |
| nous | caressons | we stroke | |
| vous | caressez | you stroke | |
| ils / elles | caressent | they stroke |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul caresse le chat endormi.
Paul strokes the sleeping cat.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai caressé | I stroked | |
| tu | as caressé | you stroked | |
| il / elle / on | a caressé | he / she / it strokedon: we stroked / one stroked | |
| nous | avons caressé | we stroked | |
| vous | avez caressé | you stroked | |
| ils / elles | ont caressé | they stroked |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a caressé le chat endormi.
Yesterday, Paul stroked the sleeping cat.
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’ | caressais | I used to stroke | |
| tu | caressais | you used to stroke | |
| il / elle / on | caressait | he / she / it used to strokeon: we used to stroke / one used to stroke | |
| nous | caressions | we used to stroke | |
| vous | caressiez | you used to stroke | |
| ils / elles | caressaient | they used to stroke |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul caressait le chat endormi.
Back then, Paul used to stroke the sleeping cat.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | caresserai | I will stroke | |
| tu | caresseras | you will stroke | |
| il / elle / on | caressera | he / she / it will strokeon: we will stroke / one will stroke | |
| nous | caresserons | we will stroke | |
| vous | caresserez | you will stroke | |
| ils / elles | caresseront | they will stroke |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul caressera le chat endormi.
Later, Paul will stroke the sleeping cat.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | caresserais | I would stroke | |
| tu | caresserais | you would stroke | |
| il / elle / on | caresserait | he / she / it would strokeon: we would stroke / one would stroke | |
| nous | caresserions | we would stroke | |
| vous | caresseriez | you would stroke | |
| ils / elles | caresseraient | they would stroke |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul caresserait le chat endormi.
Paul would stroke the sleeping cat.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | caresse | (that) I stroke | |
| tu | caresses | (that) you stroke | |
| il / elle / on | caresse | (that) he / she / it strokeson: (that) we stroke / one strokes | |
| nous | caressions | (that) we stroke | |
| vous | caressiez | (that) you stroke | |
| ils / elles | caressent | (that) they stroke |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul caresse le chat endormi.
It is possible that Paul strokes the sleeping cat.
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 stroke; to caress (to move the hand over the surface of)
- to toy with
- to touch up; put the final touches on
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