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 convince.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | convaincs | I convince | |
| tu | convaincs | you convince | |
| il / elle / on | convainc | he / she / it convinceson: we convince / one convinces | |
| nous | convainquons | we convince | |
| vous | convainquez | you convince | |
| ils / elles | convainquent | they convince |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul convainc son ami de venir.
Paul convinces his friend to come.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai convaincu | I convinced | |
| tu | as convaincu | you convinced | |
| il / elle / on | a convaincu | he / she / it convincedon: we convinced / one convinced | |
| nous | avons convaincu | we convinced | |
| vous | avez convaincu | you convinced | |
| ils / elles | ont convaincu | they convinced |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a convaincu son ami de venir.
Yesterday, Paul convinced his friend to come.
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’ | convainquais | I used to convince | |
| tu | convainquais | you used to convince | |
| il / elle / on | convainquait | he / she / it used to convinceon: we used to convince / one used to convince | |
| nous | convainquions | we used to convince | |
| vous | convainquiez | you used to convince | |
| ils / elles | convainquaient | they used to convince |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul convainquait son ami de venir.
Back then, Paul used to convince his friend to come.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | convaincrai | I will convince | |
| tu | convaincras | you will convince | |
| il / elle / on | convaincra | he / she / it will convinceon: we will convince / one will convince | |
| nous | convaincrons | we will convince | |
| vous | convaincrez | you will convince | |
| ils / elles | convaincront | they will convince |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul convaincra son ami de venir.
Later, Paul will convince his friend to come.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | convaincrais | I would convince | |
| tu | convaincrais | you would convince | |
| il / elle / on | convaincrait | he / she / it would convinceon: we would convince / one would convince | |
| nous | convaincrions | we would convince | |
| vous | convaincriez | you would convince | |
| ils / elles | convaincraient | they would convince |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul convaincrait son ami de venir.
Paul would convince his friend to come.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | convainque | (that) I convince | |
| tu | convainques | (that) you convince | |
| il / elle / on | convainque | (that) he / she / it convinceson: (that) we convince / one convinces | |
| nous | convainquions | (that) we convince | |
| vous | convainquiez | (that) you convince | |
| ils / elles | convainquent | (that) they convince |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul convainque son ami de venir.
It is possible that Paul convinces his friend to come.
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 convince, to persuade
- to convict
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