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 stick.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | colle | I stick | |
| tu | colles | you stick | |
| il / elle / on | colle | he / she / it stickson: we stick / one sticks | |
| nous | collons | we stick | |
| vous | collez | you stick | |
| ils / elles | collent | they stick |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul colle une photo dans son carnet.
Paul sticks a photo in his notebook.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai collé | I stuck | |
| tu | as collé | you stuck | |
| il / elle / on | a collé | he / she / it stuckon: we stuck / one stuck | |
| nous | avons collé | we stuck | |
| vous | avez collé | you stuck | |
| ils / elles | ont collé | they stuck |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a collé une photo dans son carnet.
Yesterday, Paul stuck a photo in his notebook.
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’ | collais | I used to stick | |
| tu | collais | you used to stick | |
| il / elle / on | collait | he / she / it used to stickon: we used to stick / one used to stick | |
| nous | collions | we used to stick | |
| vous | colliez | you used to stick | |
| ils / elles | collaient | they used to stick |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul collait une photo dans son carnet.
Back then, Paul used to stick a photo in his notebook.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | collerai | I will stick | |
| tu | colleras | you will stick | |
| il / elle / on | collera | he / she / it will stickon: we will stick / one will stick | |
| nous | collerons | we will stick | |
| vous | collerez | you will stick | |
| ils / elles | colleront | they will stick |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul collera une photo dans son carnet.
Later, Paul will stick a photo in his notebook.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | collerais | I would stick | |
| tu | collerais | you would stick | |
| il / elle / on | collerait | he / she / it would stickon: we would stick / one would stick | |
| nous | collerions | we would stick | |
| vous | colleriez | you would stick | |
| ils / elles | colleraient | they would stick |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul collerait une photo dans son carnet.
Paul would stick a photo in his notebook.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | colle | (that) I stick | |
| tu | colles | (that) you stick | |
| il / elle / on | colle | (that) he / she / it stickson: (that) we stick / one sticks | |
| nous | collions | (that) we stick | |
| vous | colliez | (that) you stick | |
| ils / elles | collent | (that) they stick |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul colle une photo dans son carnet.
It is possible that Paul sticks a photo in his notebook.
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 stick (together), to glue
- to approach too closely; to be too close
- to place
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