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 spit.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | crache | I spit | |
| tu | craches | you spit | |
| il / elle / on | crache | he / she / it spitson: we spit / one spits | |
| nous | crachons | we spit | |
| vous | crachez | you spit | |
| ils / elles | crachent | they spit |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul crache le noyau de cerise.
Paul spits out the cherry pit.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai craché | I spat | |
| tu | as craché | you spat | |
| il / elle / on | a craché | he / she / it spaton: we spat / one spat | |
| nous | avons craché | we spat | |
| vous | avez craché | you spat | |
| ils / elles | ont craché | they spat |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a craché le noyau de cerise.
Yesterday, Paul spat out the cherry pit.
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’ | crachais | I used to spit | |
| tu | crachais | you used to spit | |
| il / elle / on | crachait | he / she / it used to spiton: we used to spit / one used to spit | |
| nous | crachions | we used to spit | |
| vous | crachiez | you used to spit | |
| ils / elles | crachaient | they used to spit |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul crachait le noyau de cerise.
Back then, Paul used to spit out the cherry pit.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | cracherai | I will spit | |
| tu | cracheras | you will spit | |
| il / elle / on | crachera | he / she / it will spiton: we will spit / one will spit | |
| nous | cracherons | we will spit | |
| vous | cracherez | you will spit | |
| ils / elles | cracheront | they will spit |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul crachera le noyau de cerise.
Later, Paul will spit out the cherry pit.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | cracherais | I would spit | |
| tu | cracherais | you would spit | |
| il / elle / on | cracherait | he / she / it would spiton: we would spit / one would spit | |
| nous | cracherions | we would spit | |
| vous | cracheriez | you would spit | |
| ils / elles | cracheraient | they would spit |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul cracherait le noyau de cerise.
Paul would spit out the cherry pit.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | crache | (that) I spit | |
| tu | craches | (that) you spit | |
| il / elle / on | crache | (that) he / she / it spitson: (that) we spit / one spits | |
| nous | crachions | (that) we spit | |
| vous | crachiez | (that) you spit | |
| ils / elles | crachent | (that) they spit |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul crache le noyau de cerise.
It is possible that Paul spits out the cherry pit.
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 spit
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