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 dig.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | creuse | I dig | |
| tu | creuses | you dig | |
| il / elle / on | creuse | he / she / it digson: we dig / one digs | |
| nous | creusons | we dig | |
| vous | creusez | you dig | |
| ils / elles | creusent | they dig |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul creuse un trou pour planter l'arbre.
Paul digs a hole to plant the tree.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai creusé | I dug | |
| tu | as creusé | you dug | |
| il / elle / on | a creusé | he / she / it dugon: we dug / one dug | |
| nous | avons creusé | we dug | |
| vous | avez creusé | you dug | |
| ils / elles | ont creusé | they dug |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a creusé un trou pour planter l'arbre.
Yesterday, Paul dug a hole to plant the tree.
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’ | creusais | I used to dig | |
| tu | creusais | you used to dig | |
| il / elle / on | creusait | he / she / it used to digon: we used to dig / one used to dig | |
| nous | creusions | we used to dig | |
| vous | creusiez | you used to dig | |
| ils / elles | creusaient | they used to dig |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul creusait un trou pour planter l'arbre.
Back then, Paul used to dig a hole to plant the tree.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | creuserai | I will dig | |
| tu | creuseras | you will dig | |
| il / elle / on | creusera | he / she / it will digon: we will dig / one will dig | |
| nous | creuserons | we will dig | |
| vous | creuserez | you will dig | |
| ils / elles | creuseront | they will dig |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul creusera un trou pour planter l'arbre.
Later, Paul will dig a hole to plant the tree.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | creuserais | I would dig | |
| tu | creuserais | you would dig | |
| il / elle / on | creuserait | he / she / it would digon: we would dig / one would dig | |
| nous | creuserions | we would dig | |
| vous | creuseriez | you would dig | |
| ils / elles | creuseraient | they would dig |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul creuserait un trou pour planter l'arbre.
Paul would dig a hole to plant the tree.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | creuse | (that) I dig | |
| tu | creuses | (that) you dig | |
| il / elle / on | creuse | (that) he / she / it digson: (that) we dig / one digs | |
| nous | creusions | (that) we dig | |
| vous | creusiez | (that) you dig | |
| ils / elles | creusent | (that) they dig |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul creuse un trou pour planter l'arbre.
It is possible that Paul digs a hole to plant the tree.
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 dig
- to hollow out
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