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 stop.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | cesse | I stop | |
| tu | cesses | you stop | |
| il / elle / on | cesse | he / she / it stopson: we stop / one stops | |
| nous | cessons | we stop | |
| vous | cessez | you stop | |
| ils / elles | cessent | they stop |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul cesse de parler pendant la projection.
Paul stops talking during the screening.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai cessé | I stopped | |
| tu | as cessé | you stopped | |
| il / elle / on | a cessé | he / she / it stoppedon: we stopped / one stopped | |
| nous | avons cessé | we stopped | |
| vous | avez cessé | you stopped | |
| ils / elles | ont cessé | they stopped |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a cessé de parler pendant la projection.
Yesterday, Paul stopped talking during the screening.
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’ | cessais | I used to stop | |
| tu | cessais | you used to stop | |
| il / elle / on | cessait | he / she / it used to stopon: we used to stop / one used to stop | |
| nous | cessions | we used to stop | |
| vous | cessiez | you used to stop | |
| ils / elles | cessaient | they used to stop |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul cessait de parler pendant la projection.
Back then, Paul used to stop talking during the screening.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | cesserai | I will stop | |
| tu | cesseras | you will stop | |
| il / elle / on | cessera | he / she / it will stopon: we will stop / one will stop | |
| nous | cesserons | we will stop | |
| vous | cesserez | you will stop | |
| ils / elles | cesseront | they will stop |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul cessera de parler pendant la projection.
Later, Paul will stop talking during the screening.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | cesserais | I would stop | |
| tu | cesserais | you would stop | |
| il / elle / on | cesserait | he / she / it would stopon: we would stop / one would stop | |
| nous | cesserions | we would stop | |
| vous | cesseriez | you would stop | |
| ils / elles | cesseraient | they would stop |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul cesserait de parler pendant la projection.
Paul would stop talking during the screening.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | cesse | (that) I stop | |
| tu | cesses | (that) you stop | |
| il / elle / on | cesse | (that) he / she / it stopson: (that) we stop / one stops | |
| nous | cessions | (that) we stop | |
| vous | cessiez | (that) you stop | |
| ils / elles | cessent | (that) they stop |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul cesse de parler pendant la projection.
It is possible that Paul stops talking during the screening.
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 cease; to stop
- to break up (e.g. a relationship)
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