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 describe.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | décris | I describe | |
| tu | décris | you describe | |
| il / elle / on | décrit | he / she / it describeson: we describe / one describes | |
| nous | décrivons | we describe | |
| vous | décrivez | you describe | |
| ils / elles | décrivent | they describe |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul décrit le paysage à son ami.
Paul describes the landscape to his friend.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai décrit | I described | |
| tu | as décrit | you described | |
| il / elle / on | a décrit | he / she / it describedon: we described / one described | |
| nous | avons décrit | we described | |
| vous | avez décrit | you described | |
| ils / elles | ont décrit | they described |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a décrit le paysage à son ami.
Yesterday, Paul described the landscape to his friend.
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’ | décrivais | I used to describe | |
| tu | décrivais | you used to describe | |
| il / elle / on | décrivait | he / she / it used to describeon: we used to describe / one used to describe | |
| nous | décrivions | we used to describe | |
| vous | décriviez | you used to describe | |
| ils / elles | décrivaient | they used to describe |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul décrivait le paysage à son ami.
Back then, Paul used to describe the landscape to his friend.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | décrirai | I will describe | |
| tu | décriras | you will describe | |
| il / elle / on | décrira | he / she / it will describeon: we will describe / one will describe | |
| nous | décrirons | we will describe | |
| vous | décrirez | you will describe | |
| ils / elles | décriront | they will describe |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul décrira le paysage à son ami.
Later, Paul will describe the landscape to his friend.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | décrirais | I would describe | |
| tu | décrirais | you would describe | |
| il / elle / on | décrirait | he / she / it would describeon: we would describe / one would describe | |
| nous | décririons | we would describe | |
| vous | décririez | you would describe | |
| ils / elles | décriraient | they would describe |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul décrirait le paysage à son ami.
Paul would describe the landscape to his friend.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | décrive | (that) I describe | |
| tu | décrives | (that) you describe | |
| il / elle / on | décrive | (that) he / she / it describeson: (that) we describe / one describes | |
| nous | décrivions | (that) we describe | |
| vous | décriviez | (that) you describe | |
| ils / elles | décrivent | (that) they describe |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul décrive le paysage à son ami.
It is possible that Paul describes the landscape to his friend.
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 describe
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