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 travel.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | circule | I travel | |
| tu | circules | you travel | |
| il / elle / on | circule | he / she / it travelson: we travel / one travels | |
| nous | circulons | we travel | |
| vous | circulez | you travel | |
| ils / elles | circulent | they travel |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Le bus circule dans le centre-ville.
The bus travels through the city centre.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai circulé | I travelled | |
| tu | as circulé | you travelled | |
| il / elle / on | a circulé | he / she / it travelledon: we travelled / one travelled | |
| nous | avons circulé | we travelled | |
| vous | avez circulé | you travelled | |
| ils / elles | ont circulé | they travelled |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, le bus a circulé dans le centre-ville.
Yesterday, the bus travelled through the city centre.
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’ | circulais | I used to travel | |
| tu | circulais | you used to travel | |
| il / elle / on | circulait | he / she / it used to travelon: we used to travel / one used to travel | |
| nous | circulions | we used to travel | |
| vous | circuliez | you used to travel | |
| ils / elles | circulaient | they used to travel |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, le bus circulait dans le centre-ville.
Back then, the bus used to travel through the city centre.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | circulerai | I will travel | |
| tu | circuleras | you will travel | |
| il / elle / on | circulera | he / she / it will travelon: we will travel / one will travel | |
| nous | circulerons | we will travel | |
| vous | circulerez | you will travel | |
| ils / elles | circuleront | they will travel |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, le bus circulera dans le centre-ville.
Later, the bus will travel through the city centre.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | circulerais | I would travel | |
| tu | circulerais | you would travel | |
| il / elle / on | circulerait | he / she / it would travelon: we would travel / one would travel | |
| nous | circulerions | we would travel | |
| vous | circuleriez | you would travel | |
| ils / elles | circuleraient | they would travel |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Le bus circulerait dans le centre-ville.
The bus would travel through the city centre.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | circule | (that) I travel | |
| tu | circules | (that) you travel | |
| il / elle / on | circule | (that) he / she / it travelson: (that) we travel / one travels | |
| nous | circulions | (that) we travel | |
| vous | circuliez | (that) you travel | |
| ils / elles | circulent | (that) they travel |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que le bus circule dans le centre-ville.
It is possible that the bus travels through the city centre.
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 circulate
- to go by, to get around
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