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 deduce.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | déduis | I deduce | |
| tu | déduis | you deduce | |
| il / elle / on | déduit | he / she / it deduceson: we deduce / one deduces | |
| nous | déduisons | we deduce | |
| vous | déduisez | you deduce | |
| ils / elles | déduisent | they deduce |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul déduit la réponse à partir des indices.
Paul deduces the answer from the clues.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai déduit | I deduced | |
| tu | as déduit | you deduced | |
| il / elle / on | a déduit | he / she / it deducedon: we deduced / one deduced | |
| nous | avons déduit | we deduced | |
| vous | avez déduit | you deduced | |
| ils / elles | ont déduit | they deduced |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a déduit la réponse à partir des indices.
Yesterday, Paul deduced the answer from the clues.
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’ | déduisais | I used to deduce | |
| tu | déduisais | you used to deduce | |
| il / elle / on | déduisait | he / she / it used to deduceon: we used to deduce / one used to deduce | |
| nous | déduisions | we used to deduce | |
| vous | déduisiez | you used to deduce | |
| ils / elles | déduisaient | they used to deduce |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul déduisait la réponse à partir des indices.
Back then, Paul used to deduce the answer from the clues.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | déduirai | I will deduce | |
| tu | déduiras | you will deduce | |
| il / elle / on | déduira | he / she / it will deduceon: we will deduce / one will deduce | |
| nous | déduirons | we will deduce | |
| vous | déduirez | you will deduce | |
| ils / elles | déduiront | they will deduce |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul déduira la réponse à partir des indices.
Later, Paul will deduce the answer from the clues.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | déduirais | I would deduce | |
| tu | déduirais | you would deduce | |
| il / elle / on | déduirait | he / she / it would deduceon: we would deduce / one would deduce | |
| nous | déduirions | we would deduce | |
| vous | déduiriez | you would deduce | |
| ils / elles | déduiraient | they would deduce |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul déduirait la réponse à partir des indices.
Paul would deduce the answer from the clues.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | déduise | (that) I deduce | |
| tu | déduises | (that) you deduce | |
| il / elle / on | déduise | (that) he / she / it deduceson: (that) we deduce / one deduces | |
| nous | déduisions | (that) we deduce | |
| vous | déduisiez | (that) you deduce | |
| ils / elles | déduisent | (that) they deduce |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul déduise la réponse à partir des indices.
It is possible that Paul deduces the answer from the clues.
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 deduce; to work out
- to deduct
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