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 check.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | contrôle | I check | |
| tu | contrôles | you check | |
| il / elle / on | contrôle | he / she / it checkson: we check / one checks | |
| nous | contrôlons | we check | |
| vous | contrôlez | you check | |
| ils / elles | contrôlent | they check |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul contrôle les billets à l'entrée.
Paul checks the tickets at the entrance.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai contrôlé | I checked | |
| tu | as contrôlé | you checked | |
| il / elle / on | a contrôlé | he / she / it checkedon: we checked / one checked | |
| nous | avons contrôlé | we checked | |
| vous | avez contrôlé | you checked | |
| ils / elles | ont contrôlé | they checked |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a contrôlé les billets à l'entrée.
Yesterday, Paul checked the tickets at the entrance.
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’ | contrôlais | I used to check | |
| tu | contrôlais | you used to check | |
| il / elle / on | contrôlait | he / she / it used to checkon: we used to check / one used to check | |
| nous | contrôlions | we used to check | |
| vous | contrôliez | you used to check | |
| ils / elles | contrôlaient | they used to check |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul contrôlait les billets à l'entrée.
Back then, Paul used to check the tickets at the entrance.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | contrôlerai | I will check | |
| tu | contrôleras | you will check | |
| il / elle / on | contrôlera | he / she / it will checkon: we will check / one will check | |
| nous | contrôlerons | we will check | |
| vous | contrôlerez | you will check | |
| ils / elles | contrôleront | they will check |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul contrôlera les billets à l'entrée.
Later, Paul will check the tickets at the entrance.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | contrôlerais | I would check | |
| tu | contrôlerais | you would check | |
| il / elle / on | contrôlerait | he / she / it would checkon: we would check / one would check | |
| nous | contrôlerions | we would check | |
| vous | contrôleriez | you would check | |
| ils / elles | contrôleraient | they would check |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul contrôlerait les billets à l'entrée.
Paul would check the tickets at the entrance.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | contrôle | (that) I check | |
| tu | contrôles | (that) you check | |
| il / elle / on | contrôle | (that) he / she / it checkson: (that) we check / one checks | |
| nous | contrôlions | (that) we check | |
| vous | contrôliez | (that) you check | |
| ils / elles | contrôlent | (that) they check |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul contrôle les billets à l'entrée.
It is possible that Paul checks the tickets at the entrance.
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 check or examine
- to control
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