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’ | cultive | I grow | |
| tu | cultives | you grow | |
| il / elle / on | cultive | he / she / it growson: we grow / one grows | |
| nous | cultivons | we grow | |
| vous | cultivez | you grow | |
| ils / elles | cultivent | they grow |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul cultive des légumes dans son jardin.
Paul grows vegetables in his garden.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai cultivé | I grew | |
| tu | as cultivé | you grew | |
| il / elle / on | a cultivé | he / she / it grewon: we grew / one grew | |
| nous | avons cultivé | we grew | |
| vous | avez cultivé | you grew | |
| ils / elles | ont cultivé | they grew |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a cultivé des légumes dans son jardin.
Yesterday, Paul grew vegetables in his garden.
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’ | cultivais | I used to grow | |
| tu | cultivais | you used to grow | |
| il / elle / on | cultivait | he / she / it used to growon: we used to grow / one used to grow | |
| nous | cultivions | we used to grow | |
| vous | cultiviez | you used to grow | |
| ils / elles | cultivaient | they used to grow |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul cultivait des légumes dans son jardin.
Back then, Paul used to grow vegetables in his garden.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | cultiverai | I will grow | |
| tu | cultiveras | you will grow | |
| il / elle / on | cultivera | he / she / it will growon: we will grow / one will grow | |
| nous | cultiverons | we will grow | |
| vous | cultiverez | you will grow | |
| ils / elles | cultiveront | they will grow |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul cultivera des légumes dans son jardin.
Later, Paul will grow vegetables in his garden.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | cultiverais | I would grow | |
| tu | cultiverais | you would grow | |
| il / elle / on | cultiverait | he / she / it would growon: we would grow / one would grow | |
| nous | cultiverions | we would grow | |
| vous | cultiveriez | you would grow | |
| ils / elles | cultiveraient | they would grow |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul cultiverait des légumes dans son jardin.
Paul would grow vegetables in his garden.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | cultive | (that) I grow | |
| tu | cultives | (that) you grow | |
| il / elle / on | cultive | (that) he / she / it growson: (that) we grow / one grows | |
| nous | cultivions | (that) we grow | |
| vous | cultiviez | (that) you grow | |
| ils / elles | cultivent | (that) they grow |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul cultive des légumes dans son jardin.
It is possible that Paul grows vegetables in his garden.
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 cultivate
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