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 burst.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | crève | I burst | |
| tu | crèves | you burst | |
| il / elle / on | crève | he / she / it burstson: we burst / one bursts | |
| nous | crevons | we burst | |
| vous | crevez | you burst | |
| ils / elles | crèvent | they burst |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul crève le ballon avec une aiguille.
Paul bursts the balloon with a needle.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai crevé | I burst | |
| tu | as crevé | you burst | |
| il / elle / on | a crevé | he / she / it burston: we burst / one burst | |
| nous | avons crevé | we burst | |
| vous | avez crevé | you burst | |
| ils / elles | ont crevé | they burst |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a crevé le ballon avec une aiguille.
Yesterday, Paul burst the balloon with a needle.
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’ | crevais | I used to burst | |
| tu | crevais | you used to burst | |
| il / elle / on | crevait | he / she / it used to burston: we used to burst / one used to burst | |
| nous | crevions | we used to burst | |
| vous | creviez | you used to burst | |
| ils / elles | crevaient | they used to burst |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul crevait le ballon avec une aiguille.
Back then, Paul used to burst the balloon with a needle.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | crèverai | I will burst | |
| tu | crèveras | you will burst | |
| il / elle / on | crèvera | he / she / it will burston: we will burst / one will burst | |
| nous | crèverons | we will burst | |
| vous | crèverez | you will burst | |
| ils / elles | crèveront | they will burst |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul crèvera le ballon avec une aiguille.
Later, Paul will burst the balloon with a needle.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | crèverais | I would burst | |
| tu | crèverais | you would burst | |
| il / elle / on | crèverait | he / she / it would burston: we would burst / one would burst | |
| nous | crèverions | we would burst | |
| vous | crèveriez | you would burst | |
| ils / elles | crèveraient | they would burst |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul crèverait le ballon avec une aiguille.
Paul would burst the balloon with a needle.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | crève | (that) I burst | |
| tu | crèves | (that) you burst | |
| il / elle / on | crève | (that) he / she / it burstson: (that) we burst / one bursts | |
| nous | crevions | (that) we burst | |
| vous | creviez | (that) you burst | |
| ils / elles | crèvent | (that) they burst |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul crève le ballon avec une aiguille.
It is possible that Paul bursts the balloon with a needle.
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 pop, burst
- to have a puncture
- to snuff it, pop one's clogs; to die
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