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 surround.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | cerne | I surround | |
| tu | cernes | you surround | |
| il / elle / on | cerne | he / she / it surroundson: we surround / one surrounds | |
| nous | cernons | we surround | |
| vous | cernez | you surround | |
| ils / elles | cernent | they surround |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Le brouillard cerne le village.
The fog surrounds the village.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai cerné | I surrounded | |
| tu | as cerné | you surrounded | |
| il / elle / on | a cerné | he / she / it surroundedon: we surrounded / one surrounded | |
| nous | avons cerné | we surrounded | |
| vous | avez cerné | you surrounded | |
| ils / elles | ont cerné | they surrounded |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, le brouillard a cerné le village.
Yesterday, the fog surrounded the village.
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’ | cernais | I used to surround | |
| tu | cernais | you used to surround | |
| il / elle / on | cernait | he / she / it used to surroundon: we used to surround / one used to surround | |
| nous | cernions | we used to surround | |
| vous | cerniez | you used to surround | |
| ils / elles | cernaient | they used to surround |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, le brouillard cernait le village.
Back then, the fog used to surround the village.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | cernerai | I will surround | |
| tu | cerneras | you will surround | |
| il / elle / on | cernera | he / she / it will surroundon: we will surround / one will surround | |
| nous | cernerons | we will surround | |
| vous | cernerez | you will surround | |
| ils / elles | cerneront | they will surround |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, le brouillard cernera le village.
Later, the fog will surround the village.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | cernerais | I would surround | |
| tu | cernerais | you would surround | |
| il / elle / on | cernerait | he / she / it would surroundon: we would surround / one would surround | |
| nous | cernerions | we would surround | |
| vous | cerneriez | you would surround | |
| ils / elles | cerneraient | they would surround |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Le brouillard cernerait le village.
The fog would surround the village.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | cerne | (that) I surround | |
| tu | cernes | (that) you surround | |
| il / elle / on | cerne | (that) he / she / it surroundson: (that) we surround / one surrounds | |
| nous | cernions | (that) we surround | |
| vous | cerniez | (that) you surround | |
| ils / elles | cernent | (that) they surround |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que le brouillard cerne le village.
It is possible that the fog surrounds the village.
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 surround
- to figure out; to distinguish, identify the boundaries of
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