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 cut up.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | découpe | I cut up | |
| tu | découpes | you cut up | |
| il / elle / on | découpe | he / she / it cuts upon: we cut up / one cuts up | |
| nous | découpons | we cut up | |
| vous | découpez | you cut up | |
| ils / elles | découpent | they cut up |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul découpe les légumes pour la soupe.
Paul cuts up the vegetables for the soup.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai découpé | I cut up | |
| tu | as découpé | you cut up | |
| il / elle / on | a découpé | he / she / it cut upon: we cut up / one cut up | |
| nous | avons découpé | we cut up | |
| vous | avez découpé | you cut up | |
| ils / elles | ont découpé | they cut up |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a découpé les légumes pour la soupe.
Yesterday, Paul cut up the vegetables for the soup.
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’ | découpais | I used to cut up | |
| tu | découpais | you used to cut up | |
| il / elle / on | découpait | he / she / it used to cut upon: we used to cut up / one used to cut up | |
| nous | découpions | we used to cut up | |
| vous | découpiez | you used to cut up | |
| ils / elles | découpaient | they used to cut up |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul découpait les légumes pour la soupe.
Back then, Paul used to cut up the vegetables for the soup.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | découperai | I will cut up | |
| tu | découperas | you will cut up | |
| il / elle / on | découpera | he / she / it will cut upon: we will cut up / one will cut up | |
| nous | découperons | we will cut up | |
| vous | découperez | you will cut up | |
| ils / elles | découperont | they will cut up |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul découpera les légumes pour la soupe.
Later, Paul will cut up the vegetables for the soup.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | découperais | I would cut up | |
| tu | découperais | you would cut up | |
| il / elle / on | découperait | he / she / it would cut upon: we would cut up / one would cut up | |
| nous | découperions | we would cut up | |
| vous | découperiez | you would cut up | |
| ils / elles | découperaient | they would cut up |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul découperait les légumes pour la soupe.
Paul would cut up the vegetables for the soup.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | découpe | (that) I cut up | |
| tu | découpes | (that) you cut up | |
| il / elle / on | découpe | (that) he / she / it cuts upon: (that) we cut up / one cuts up | |
| nous | découpions | (that) we cut up | |
| vous | découpiez | (that) you cut up | |
| ils / elles | découpent | (that) they cut up |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul découpe les légumes pour la soupe.
It is possible that Paul cuts up the vegetables for the soup.
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 cut up, to chop up
- to cut out (to remove by cutting)
- to zone, to divide up (into areas)
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