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 force.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | contrains | I force | |
| tu | contrains | you force | |
| il / elle / on | contraint | he / she / it forceson: we force / one forces | |
| nous | contraignons | we force | |
| vous | contraignez | you force | |
| ils / elles | contraignent | they force |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
La pluie contraint Paul à rentrer.
The rain forces Paul to go home.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai contraint | I forced | |
| tu | as contraint | you forced | |
| il / elle / on | a contraint | he / she / it forcedon: we forced / one forced | |
| nous | avons contraint | we forced | |
| vous | avez contraint | you forced | |
| ils / elles | ont contraint | they forced |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, la pluie a contraint Paul à rentrer.
Yesterday, the rain forced Paul to go home.
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’ | contraignais | I used to force | |
| tu | contraignais | you used to force | |
| il / elle / on | contraignait | he / she / it used to forceon: we used to force / one used to force | |
| nous | contraignions | we used to force | |
| vous | contraigniez | you used to force | |
| ils / elles | contraignaient | they used to force |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, la pluie contraignait Paul à rentrer.
Back then, the rain used to force Paul to go home.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | contraindrai | I will force | |
| tu | contraindras | you will force | |
| il / elle / on | contraindra | he / she / it will forceon: we will force / one will force | |
| nous | contraindrons | we will force | |
| vous | contraindrez | you will force | |
| ils / elles | contraindront | they will force |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, la pluie contraindra Paul à rentrer.
Later, the rain will force Paul to go home.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | contraindrais | I would force | |
| tu | contraindrais | you would force | |
| il / elle / on | contraindrait | he / she / it would forceon: we would force / one would force | |
| nous | contraindrions | we would force | |
| vous | contraindriez | you would force | |
| ils / elles | contraindraient | they would force |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
La pluie contraindrait Paul à rentrer.
The rain would force Paul to go home.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | contraigne | (that) I force | |
| tu | contraignes | (that) you force | |
| il / elle / on | contraigne | (that) he / she / it forceson: (that) we force / one forces | |
| nous | contraignions | (that) we force | |
| vous | contraigniez | (that) you force | |
| ils / elles | contraignent | (that) they force |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que la pluie contraigne Paul à rentrer.
It is possible that the rain forces Paul to go home.
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 constrain
- to compel; force
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