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 cause.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | cause | I cause | |
| tu | causes | you cause | |
| il / elle / on | cause | he / she / it causeson: we cause / one causes | |
| nous | causons | we cause | |
| vous | causez | you cause | |
| ils / elles | causent | they cause |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Le bruit cause des difficultés de concentration.
The noise causes difficulty concentrating.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai causé | I caused | |
| tu | as causé | you caused | |
| il / elle / on | a causé | he / she / it causedon: we caused / one caused | |
| nous | avons causé | we caused | |
| vous | avez causé | you caused | |
| ils / elles | ont causé | they caused |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, le bruit a causé des difficultés de concentration.
Yesterday, the noise caused difficulty concentrating.
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’ | causais | I used to cause | |
| tu | causais | you used to cause | |
| il / elle / on | causait | he / she / it used to causeon: we used to cause / one used to cause | |
| nous | causions | we used to cause | |
| vous | causiez | you used to cause | |
| ils / elles | causaient | they used to cause |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, le bruit causait des difficultés de concentration.
Back then, the noise used to cause difficulty concentrating.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | causerai | I will cause | |
| tu | causeras | you will cause | |
| il / elle / on | causera | he / she / it will causeon: we will cause / one will cause | |
| nous | causerons | we will cause | |
| vous | causerez | you will cause | |
| ils / elles | causeront | they will cause |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, le bruit causera des difficultés de concentration.
Later, the noise will cause difficulty concentrating.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | causerais | I would cause | |
| tu | causerais | you would cause | |
| il / elle / on | causerait | he / she / it would causeon: we would cause / one would cause | |
| nous | causerions | we would cause | |
| vous | causeriez | you would cause | |
| ils / elles | causeraient | they would cause |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Le bruit causerait des difficultés de concentration.
The noise would cause difficulty concentrating.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | cause | (that) I cause | |
| tu | causes | (that) you cause | |
| il / elle / on | cause | (that) he / she / it causeson: (that) we cause / one causes | |
| nous | causions | (that) we cause | |
| vous | causiez | (that) you cause | |
| ils / elles | causent | (that) they cause |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que le bruit cause des difficultés de concentration.
It is possible that the noise causes difficulty concentrating.
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 cause; to chat
- to speak (a language)
- to speak, talk, chat; to be waffling on about
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