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 clear.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | dégage | I clear | |
| tu | dégages | you clear | |
| il / elle / on | dégage | he / she / it clearson: we clear / one clears | |
| nous | dégageons | we clear | |
| vous | dégagez | you clear | |
| ils / elles | dégagent | they clear |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul dégage la neige devant la porte.
Paul clears the snow in front of the door.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai dégagé | I cleared | |
| tu | as dégagé | you cleared | |
| il / elle / on | a dégagé | he / she / it clearedon: we cleared / one cleared | |
| nous | avons dégagé | we cleared | |
| vous | avez dégagé | you cleared | |
| ils / elles | ont dégagé | they cleared |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a dégagé la neige devant la porte.
Yesterday, Paul cleared the snow in front of the door.
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’ | dégageais | I used to clear | |
| tu | dégageais | you used to clear | |
| il / elle / on | dégageait | he / she / it used to clearon: we used to clear / one used to clear | |
| nous | dégagions | we used to clear | |
| vous | dégagiez | you used to clear | |
| ils / elles | dégageaient | they used to clear |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul dégageait la neige devant la porte.
Back then, Paul used to clear the snow in front of the door.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | dégagerai | I will clear | |
| tu | dégageras | you will clear | |
| il / elle / on | dégagera | he / she / it will clearon: we will clear / one will clear | |
| nous | dégagerons | we will clear | |
| vous | dégagerez | you will clear | |
| ils / elles | dégageront | they will clear |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul dégagera la neige devant la porte.
Later, Paul will clear the snow in front of the door.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | dégagerais | I would clear | |
| tu | dégagerais | you would clear | |
| il / elle / on | dégagerait | he / she / it would clearon: we would clear / one would clear | |
| nous | dégagerions | we would clear | |
| vous | dégageriez | you would clear | |
| ils / elles | dégageraient | they would clear |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul dégagerait la neige devant la porte.
Paul would clear the snow in front of the door.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | dégage | (that) I clear | |
| tu | dégages | (that) you clear | |
| il / elle / on | dégage | (that) he / she / it clearson: (that) we clear / one clears | |
| nous | dégagions | (that) we clear | |
| vous | dégagiez | (that) you clear | |
| ils / elles | dégagent | (that) they clear |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul dégage la neige devant la porte.
It is possible that Paul clears the snow in front of the door.
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 free (someone or something)
- to relieve (a town, army, etc.)
- to release (funds)
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