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 counter.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | contre | I counter | |
| tu | contres | you counter | |
| il / elle / on | contre | he / she / it counterson: we counter / one counters | |
| nous | controns | we counter | |
| vous | contrez | you counter | |
| ils / elles | contrent | they counter |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Le joueur contre l'attaque de son adversaire.
The player counters his opponent's attack.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai contré | I countered | |
| tu | as contré | you countered | |
| il / elle / on | a contré | he / she / it counteredon: we countered / one countered | |
| nous | avons contré | we countered | |
| vous | avez contré | you countered | |
| ils / elles | ont contré | they countered |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, le joueur a contré l'attaque de son adversaire.
Yesterday, the player countered his opponent's attack.
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’ | contrais | I used to counter | |
| tu | contrais | you used to counter | |
| il / elle / on | contrait | he / she / it used to counteron: we used to counter / one used to counter | |
| nous | contrions | we used to counter | |
| vous | contriez | you used to counter | |
| ils / elles | contraient | they used to counter |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, le joueur contrait l'attaque de son adversaire.
Back then, the player used to counter his opponent's attack.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | contrerai | I will counter | |
| tu | contreras | you will counter | |
| il / elle / on | contrera | he / she / it will counteron: we will counter / one will counter | |
| nous | contrerons | we will counter | |
| vous | contrerez | you will counter | |
| ils / elles | contreront | they will counter |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, le joueur contrera l'attaque de son adversaire.
Later, the player will counter his opponent's attack.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | contrerais | I would counter | |
| tu | contrerais | you would counter | |
| il / elle / on | contrerait | he / she / it would counteron: we would counter / one would counter | |
| nous | contrerions | we would counter | |
| vous | contreriez | you would counter | |
| ils / elles | contreraient | they would counter |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Le joueur contrerait l'attaque de son adversaire.
The player would counter his opponent's attack.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | contre | (that) I counter | |
| tu | contres | (that) you counter | |
| il / elle / on | contre | (that) he / she / it counterson: (that) we counter / one counters | |
| nous | contrions | (that) we counter | |
| vous | contriez | (that) you counter | |
| ils / elles | contrent | (that) they counter |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que le joueur contre l'attaque de son adversaire.
It is possible that the player counters his opponent's attack.
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 block, to counter, to counteract
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