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 assemble.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | constitue | I assemble | |
| tu | constitues | you assemble | |
| il / elle / on | constitue | he / she / it assembleson: we assemble / one assembles | |
| nous | constituons | we assemble | |
| vous | constituez | you assemble | |
| ils / elles | constituent | they assemble |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul constitue un dossier pour sa demande.
Paul assembles a file for his application.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai constitué | I assembled | |
| tu | as constitué | you assembled | |
| il / elle / on | a constitué | he / she / it assembledon: we assembled / one assembled | |
| nous | avons constitué | we assembled | |
| vous | avez constitué | you assembled | |
| ils / elles | ont constitué | they assembled |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a constitué un dossier pour sa demande.
Yesterday, Paul assembled a file for his application.
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’ | constituais | I used to assemble | |
| tu | constituais | you used to assemble | |
| il / elle / on | constituait | he / she / it used to assembleon: we used to assemble / one used to assemble | |
| nous | constituions | we used to assemble | |
| vous | constituiez | you used to assemble | |
| ils / elles | constituaient | they used to assemble |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul constituait un dossier pour sa demande.
Back then, Paul used to assemble a file for his application.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | constituerai | I will assemble | |
| tu | constitueras | you will assemble | |
| il / elle / on | constituera | he / she / it will assembleon: we will assemble / one will assemble | |
| nous | constituerons | we will assemble | |
| vous | constituerez | you will assemble | |
| ils / elles | constitueront | they will assemble |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul constituera un dossier pour sa demande.
Later, Paul will assemble a file for his application.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | constituerais | I would assemble | |
| tu | constituerais | you would assemble | |
| il / elle / on | constituerait | he / she / it would assembleon: we would assemble / one would assemble | |
| nous | constituerions | we would assemble | |
| vous | constitueriez | you would assemble | |
| ils / elles | constitueraient | they would assemble |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul constituerait un dossier pour sa demande.
Paul would assemble a file for his application.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | constitue | (that) I assemble | |
| tu | constitues | (that) you assemble | |
| il / elle / on | constitue | (that) he / she / it assembleson: (that) we assemble / one assembles | |
| nous | constituions | (that) we assemble | |
| vous | constituiez | (that) you assemble | |
| ils / elles | constituent | (that) they assemble |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul constitue un dossier pour sa demande.
It is possible that Paul assembles a file for his application.
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 constitute
- to make up
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