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 designate.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | désigne | I designate | |
| tu | désignes | you designate | |
| il / elle / on | désigne | he / she / it designateson: we designate / one designates | |
| nous | désignons | we designate | |
| vous | désignez | you designate | |
| ils / elles | désignent | they designate |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Le directeur désigne un responsable pour le projet.
The director designates a manager for the project.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai désigné | I designated | |
| tu | as désigné | you designated | |
| il / elle / on | a désigné | he / she / it designatedon: we designated / one designated | |
| nous | avons désigné | we designated | |
| vous | avez désigné | you designated | |
| ils / elles | ont désigné | they designated |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, le directeur a désigné un responsable pour le projet.
Yesterday, the director designated a manager for the project.
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’ | désignais | I used to designate | |
| tu | désignais | you used to designate | |
| il / elle / on | désignait | he / she / it used to designateon: we used to designate / one used to designate | |
| nous | désignions | we used to designate | |
| vous | désigniez | you used to designate | |
| ils / elles | désignaient | they used to designate |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, le directeur désignait un responsable pour le projet.
Back then, the director used to designate a manager for the project.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | désignerai | I will designate | |
| tu | désigneras | you will designate | |
| il / elle / on | désignera | he / she / it will designateon: we will designate / one will designate | |
| nous | désignerons | we will designate | |
| vous | désignerez | you will designate | |
| ils / elles | désigneront | they will designate |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, le directeur désignera un responsable pour le projet.
Later, the director will designate a manager for the project.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | désignerais | I would designate | |
| tu | désignerais | you would designate | |
| il / elle / on | désignerait | he / she / it would designateon: we would designate / one would designate | |
| nous | désignerions | we would designate | |
| vous | désigneriez | you would designate | |
| ils / elles | désigneraient | they would designate |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Le directeur désignerait un responsable pour le projet.
The director would designate a manager for the project.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | désigne | (that) I designate | |
| tu | désignes | (that) you designate | |
| il / elle / on | désigne | (that) he / she / it designateson: (that) we designate / one designates | |
| nous | désignions | (that) we designate | |
| vous | désigniez | (that) you designate | |
| ils / elles | désignent | (that) they designate |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que le directeur désigne un responsable pour le projet.
It is possible that the director designates a manager for the project.
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 designate
- to indicate (symbol, abbreviation, etc.)
- to connote (to signify beyond principal meaning)
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