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 grow.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | croîs | I grow | |
| tu | croîs | you grow | |
| il / elle / on | croît | he / she / it growson: we grow / one grows | |
| nous | croissons | we grow | |
| vous | croissez | you grow | |
| ils / elles | croissent | they grow |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Le chêne croît près de la rivière.
The oak grows near the river.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai crû | I grew | |
| tu | as crû | you grew | |
| il / elle / on | a crû | he / she / it grewon: we grew / one grew | |
| nous | avons crû | we grew | |
| vous | avez crû | you grew | |
| ils / elles | ont crû | they grew |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, le chêne a crû près de la rivière.
Yesterday, the oak grew near the river.
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’ | croissais | I used to grow | |
| tu | croissais | you used to grow | |
| il / elle / on | croissait | he / she / it used to growon: we used to grow / one used to grow | |
| nous | croissions | we used to grow | |
| vous | croissiez | you used to grow | |
| ils / elles | croissaient | they used to grow |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, le chêne croissait près de la rivière.
Back then, the oak used to grow near the river.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | croîtrai | I will grow | |
| tu | croîtras | you will grow | |
| il / elle / on | croîtra | he / she / it will growon: we will grow / one will grow | |
| nous | croîtrons | we will grow | |
| vous | croîtrez | you will grow | |
| ils / elles | croîtront | they will grow |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, le chêne croîtra près de la rivière.
Later, the oak will grow near the river.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | croîtrais | I would grow | |
| tu | croîtrais | you would grow | |
| il / elle / on | croîtrait | he / she / it would growon: we would grow / one would grow | |
| nous | croîtrions | we would grow | |
| vous | croîtriez | you would grow | |
| ils / elles | croîtraient | they would grow |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Le chêne croîtrait près de la rivière.
The oak would grow near the river.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | croisse | (that) I grow | |
| tu | croisses | (that) you grow | |
| il / elle / on | croisse | (that) he / she / it growson: (that) we grow / one grows | |
| nous | croissions | (that) we grow | |
| vous | croissiez | (that) you grow | |
| ils / elles | croissent | (that) they grow |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que le chêne croisse près de la rivière.
It is possible that the oak grows near the river.
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 grow
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