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 discover.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | découvre | I discover | |
| tu | découvres | you discover | |
| il / elle / on | découvre | he / she / it discoverson: we discover / one discovers | |
| nous | découvrons | we discover | |
| vous | découvrez | you discover | |
| ils / elles | découvrent | they discover |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul découvre un nouveau chemin dans la forêt.
Paul discovers a new path through the forest.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai découvert | I discovered | |
| tu | as découvert | you discovered | |
| il / elle / on | a découvert | he / she / it discoveredon: we discovered / one discovered | |
| nous | avons découvert | we discovered | |
| vous | avez découvert | you discovered | |
| ils / elles | ont découvert | they discovered |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a découvert un nouveau chemin dans la forêt.
Yesterday, Paul discovered a new path through the forest.
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’ | découvrais | I used to discover | |
| tu | découvrais | you used to discover | |
| il / elle / on | découvrait | he / she / it used to discoveron: we used to discover / one used to discover | |
| nous | découvrions | we used to discover | |
| vous | découvriez | you used to discover | |
| ils / elles | découvraient | they used to discover |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul découvrait un nouveau chemin dans la forêt.
Back then, Paul used to discover a new path through the forest.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | découvrirai | I will discover | |
| tu | découvriras | you will discover | |
| il / elle / on | découvrira | he / she / it will discoveron: we will discover / one will discover | |
| nous | découvrirons | we will discover | |
| vous | découvrirez | you will discover | |
| ils / elles | découvriront | they will discover |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul découvrira un nouveau chemin dans la forêt.
Later, Paul will discover a new path through the forest.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | découvrirais | I would discover | |
| tu | découvrirais | you would discover | |
| il / elle / on | découvrirait | he / she / it would discoveron: we would discover / one would discover | |
| nous | découvririons | we would discover | |
| vous | découvririez | you would discover | |
| ils / elles | découvriraient | they would discover |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul découvrirait un nouveau chemin dans la forêt.
Paul would discover a new path through the forest.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | découvre | (that) I discover | |
| tu | découvres | (that) you discover | |
| il / elle / on | découvre | (that) he / she / it discoverson: (that) we discover / one discovers | |
| nous | découvrions | (that) we discover | |
| vous | découvriez | (that) you discover | |
| ils / elles | découvrent | (that) they discover |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul découvre un nouveau chemin dans la forêt.
It is possible that Paul discovers a new path through the forest.
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 discover
- to show, to reveal
- to leave uncovered, to expose
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