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 design.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | conçois | I design | |
| tu | conçois | you design | |
| il / elle / on | conçoit | he / she / it designson: we design / one designs | |
| nous | concevons | we design | |
| vous | concevez | you design | |
| ils / elles | conçoivent | they design |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
L'architecte conçoit une maison lumineuse.
The architect designs a bright house.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai conçu | I designed | |
| tu | as conçu | you designed | |
| il / elle / on | a conçu | he / she / it designedon: we designed / one designed | |
| nous | avons conçu | we designed | |
| vous | avez conçu | you designed | |
| ils / elles | ont conçu | they designed |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, l'architecte a conçu une maison lumineuse.
Yesterday, the architect designed a bright house.
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’ | concevais | I used to design | |
| tu | concevais | you used to design | |
| il / elle / on | concevait | he / she / it used to designon: we used to design / one used to design | |
| nous | concevions | we used to design | |
| vous | conceviez | you used to design | |
| ils / elles | concevaient | they used to design |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, l'architecte concevait une maison lumineuse.
Back then, the architect used to design a bright house.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | concevrai | I will design | |
| tu | concevras | you will design | |
| il / elle / on | concevra | he / she / it will designon: we will design / one will design | |
| nous | concevrons | we will design | |
| vous | concevrez | you will design | |
| ils / elles | concevront | they will design |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, l'architecte concevra une maison lumineuse.
Later, the architect will design a bright house.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | concevrais | I would design | |
| tu | concevrais | you would design | |
| il / elle / on | concevrait | he / she / it would designon: we would design / one would design | |
| nous | concevrions | we would design | |
| vous | concevriez | you would design | |
| ils / elles | concevraient | they would design |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
L'architecte concevrait une maison lumineuse.
The architect would design a bright house.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | conçoive | (that) I design | |
| tu | conçoives | (that) you design | |
| il / elle / on | conçoive | (that) he / she / it designson: (that) we design / one designs | |
| nous | concevions | (that) we design | |
| vous | conceviez | (that) you design | |
| ils / elles | conçoivent | (that) they design |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que l'architecte conçoive une maison lumineuse.
It is possible that the architect designs a bright house.
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 conceive; to design
- to conceive:
- to conceive (an idea)
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