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 down.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | décroche | I take down | |
| tu | décroches | you take down | |
| il / elle / on | décroche | he / she / it takes downon: we take down / one takes down | |
| nous | décrochons | we take down | |
| vous | décrochez | you take down | |
| ils / elles | décrochent | they take down |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul décroche le tableau du mur.
Paul takes down the painting from the wall.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai décroché | I took down | |
| tu | as décroché | you took down | |
| il / elle / on | a décroché | he / she / it took downon: we took down / one took down | |
| nous | avons décroché | we took down | |
| vous | avez décroché | you took down | |
| ils / elles | ont décroché | they took down |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a décroché le tableau du mur.
Yesterday, Paul took down the painting from the wall.
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’ | décrochais | I used to take down | |
| tu | décrochais | you used to take down | |
| il / elle / on | décrochait | he / she / it used to take downon: we used to take down / one used to take down | |
| nous | décrochions | we used to take down | |
| vous | décrochiez | you used to take down | |
| ils / elles | décrochaient | they used to take down |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul décrochait le tableau du mur.
Back then, Paul used to take down the painting from the wall.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | décrocherai | I will take down | |
| tu | décrocheras | you will take down | |
| il / elle / on | décrochera | he / she / it will take downon: we will take down / one will take down | |
| nous | décrocherons | we will take down | |
| vous | décrocherez | you will take down | |
| ils / elles | décrocheront | they will take down |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul décrochera le tableau du mur.
Later, Paul will take down the painting from the wall.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | décrocherais | I would take down | |
| tu | décrocherais | you would take down | |
| il / elle / on | décrocherait | he / she / it would take downon: we would take down / one would take down | |
| nous | décrocherions | we would take down | |
| vous | décrocheriez | you would take down | |
| ils / elles | décrocheraient | they would take down |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul décrocherait le tableau du mur.
Paul would take down the painting from the wall.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | décroche | (that) I take down | |
| tu | décroches | (that) you take down | |
| il / elle / on | décroche | (that) he / she / it takes downon: (that) we take down / one takes down | |
| nous | décrochions | (that) we take down | |
| vous | décrochiez | (that) you take down | |
| ils / elles | décrochent | (that) they take down |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul décroche le tableau du mur.
It is possible that Paul takes down the painting from the wall.
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 unhook, remove from a hook
- to pick up, pick up the phone, start a telephone conversation
- to stall
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