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 devote.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | consacre | I devote | |
| tu | consacres | you devote | |
| il / elle / on | consacre | he / she / it devoteson: we devote / one devotes | |
| nous | consacrons | we devote | |
| vous | consacrez | you devote | |
| ils / elles | consacrent | they devote |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul consacre une heure à la lecture.
Paul devotes an hour to reading.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai consacré | I devoted | |
| tu | as consacré | you devoted | |
| il / elle / on | a consacré | he / she / it devotedon: we devoted / one devoted | |
| nous | avons consacré | we devoted | |
| vous | avez consacré | you devoted | |
| ils / elles | ont consacré | they devoted |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a consacré une heure à la lecture.
Yesterday, Paul devoted an hour to reading.
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’ | consacrais | I used to devote | |
| tu | consacrais | you used to devote | |
| il / elle / on | consacrait | he / she / it used to devoteon: we used to devote / one used to devote | |
| nous | consacrions | we used to devote | |
| vous | consacriez | you used to devote | |
| ils / elles | consacraient | they used to devote |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul consacrait une heure à la lecture.
Back then, Paul used to devote an hour to reading.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | consacrerai | I will devote | |
| tu | consacreras | you will devote | |
| il / elle / on | consacrera | he / she / it will devoteon: we will devote / one will devote | |
| nous | consacrerons | we will devote | |
| vous | consacrerez | you will devote | |
| ils / elles | consacreront | they will devote |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul consacrera une heure à la lecture.
Later, Paul will devote an hour to reading.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | consacrerais | I would devote | |
| tu | consacrerais | you would devote | |
| il / elle / on | consacrerait | he / she / it would devoteon: we would devote / one would devote | |
| nous | consacrerions | we would devote | |
| vous | consacreriez | you would devote | |
| ils / elles | consacreraient | they would devote |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul consacrerait une heure à la lecture.
Paul would devote an hour to reading.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | consacre | (that) I devote | |
| tu | consacres | (that) you devote | |
| il / elle / on | consacre | (that) he / she / it devoteson: (that) we devote / one devotes | |
| nous | consacrions | (that) we devote | |
| vous | consacriez | (that) you devote | |
| ils / elles | consacrent | (that) they devote |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul consacre une heure à la lecture.
It is possible that Paul devotes an hour to reading.
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 dedicate, to devote (time, effort)
- to consecrate
- to standardize through long usage
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