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 take off.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | décolle | I take off | |
| tu | décolles | you take off | |
| il / elle / on | décolle | he / she / it takes offon: we take off / one takes off | |
| nous | décollons | we take off | |
| vous | décollez | you take off | |
| ils / elles | décollent | they take off |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
L'avion décolle de la petite piste.
The plane takes off from the small runway.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai décollé | I took off | |
| tu | as décollé | you took off | |
| il / elle / on | a décollé | he / she / it took offon: we took off / one took off | |
| nous | avons décollé | we took off | |
| vous | avez décollé | you took off | |
| ils / elles | ont décollé | they took off |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, l'avion a décollé de la petite piste.
Yesterday, the plane took off from the small runway.
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’ | décollais | I used to take off | |
| tu | décollais | you used to take off | |
| il / elle / on | décollait | he / she / it used to take offon: we used to take off / one used to take off | |
| nous | décollions | we used to take off | |
| vous | décolliez | you used to take off | |
| ils / elles | décollaient | they used to take off |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, l'avion décollait de la petite piste.
Back then, the plane used to take off from the small runway.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | décollerai | I will take off | |
| tu | décolleras | you will take off | |
| il / elle / on | décollera | he / she / it will take offon: we will take off / one will take off | |
| nous | décollerons | we will take off | |
| vous | décollerez | you will take off | |
| ils / elles | décolleront | they will take off |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, l'avion décollera de la petite piste.
Later, the plane will take off from the small runway.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | décollerais | I would take off | |
| tu | décollerais | you would take off | |
| il / elle / on | décollerait | he / she / it would take offon: we would take off / one would take off | |
| nous | décollerions | we would take off | |
| vous | décolleriez | you would take off | |
| ils / elles | décolleraient | they would take off |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
L'avion décollerait de la petite piste.
The plane would take off from the small runway.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | décolle | (that) I take off | |
| tu | décolles | (that) you take off | |
| il / elle / on | décolle | (that) he / she / it takes offon: (that) we take off / one takes off | |
| nous | décollions | (that) we take off | |
| vous | décolliez | (that) you take off | |
| ils / elles | décollent | (that) they take off |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que l'avion décolle de la petite piste.
It is possible that the plane takes off from the small runway.
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 take off (i.e. a plane)
- to leave
- unstick
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