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 criticise.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | critique | I criticise | |
| tu | critiques | you criticise | |
| il / elle / on | critique | he / she / it criticiseson: we criticise / one criticises | |
| nous | critiquons | we criticise | |
| vous | critiquez | you criticise | |
| ils / elles | critiquent | they criticise |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Le journaliste critique la décision du maire.
The journalist criticises the mayor's decision.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai critiqué | I criticised | |
| tu | as critiqué | you criticised | |
| il / elle / on | a critiqué | he / she / it criticisedon: we criticised / one criticised | |
| nous | avons critiqué | we criticised | |
| vous | avez critiqué | you criticised | |
| ils / elles | ont critiqué | they criticised |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, le journaliste a critiqué la décision du maire.
Yesterday, the journalist criticised the mayor's decision.
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’ | critiquais | I used to criticise | |
| tu | critiquais | you used to criticise | |
| il / elle / on | critiquait | he / she / it used to criticiseon: we used to criticise / one used to criticise | |
| nous | critiquions | we used to criticise | |
| vous | critiquiez | you used to criticise | |
| ils / elles | critiquaient | they used to criticise |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, le journaliste critiquait la décision du maire.
Back then, the journalist used to criticise the mayor's decision.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | critiquerai | I will criticise | |
| tu | critiqueras | you will criticise | |
| il / elle / on | critiquera | he / she / it will criticiseon: we will criticise / one will criticise | |
| nous | critiquerons | we will criticise | |
| vous | critiquerez | you will criticise | |
| ils / elles | critiqueront | they will criticise |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, le journaliste critiquera la décision du maire.
Later, the journalist will criticise the mayor's decision.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | critiquerais | I would criticise | |
| tu | critiquerais | you would criticise | |
| il / elle / on | critiquerait | he / she / it would criticiseon: we would criticise / one would criticise | |
| nous | critiquerions | we would criticise | |
| vous | critiqueriez | you would criticise | |
| ils / elles | critiqueraient | they would criticise |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Le journaliste critiquerait la décision du maire.
The journalist would criticise the mayor's decision.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | critique | (that) I criticise | |
| tu | critiques | (that) you criticise | |
| il / elle / on | critique | (that) he / she / it criticiseson: (that) we criticise / one criticises | |
| nous | critiquions | (that) we criticise | |
| vous | critiquiez | (that) you criticise | |
| ils / elles | critiquent | (that) they criticise |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que le journaliste critique la décision du maire.
It is possible that the journalist criticises the mayor's decision.
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 criticise
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