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 determine.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | détermine | I determine | |
| tu | détermines | you determine | |
| il / elle / on | détermine | he / she / it determineson: we determine / one determines | |
| nous | déterminons | we determine | |
| vous | déterminez | you determine | |
| ils / elles | déterminent | they determine |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul détermine la cause du problème.
Paul determines the cause of the problem.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai déterminé | I determined | |
| tu | as déterminé | you determined | |
| il / elle / on | a déterminé | he / she / it determinedon: we determined / one determined | |
| nous | avons déterminé | we determined | |
| vous | avez déterminé | you determined | |
| ils / elles | ont déterminé | they determined |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a déterminé la cause du problème.
Yesterday, Paul determined the cause of the problem.
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’ | déterminais | I used to determine | |
| tu | déterminais | you used to determine | |
| il / elle / on | déterminait | he / she / it used to determineon: we used to determine / one used to determine | |
| nous | déterminions | we used to determine | |
| vous | déterminiez | you used to determine | |
| ils / elles | déterminaient | they used to determine |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul déterminait la cause du problème.
Back then, Paul used to determine the cause of the problem.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | déterminerai | I will determine | |
| tu | détermineras | you will determine | |
| il / elle / on | déterminera | he / she / it will determineon: we will determine / one will determine | |
| nous | déterminerons | we will determine | |
| vous | déterminerez | you will determine | |
| ils / elles | détermineront | they will determine |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul déterminera la cause du problème.
Later, Paul will determine the cause of the problem.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | déterminerais | I would determine | |
| tu | déterminerais | you would determine | |
| il / elle / on | déterminerait | he / she / it would determineon: we would determine / one would determine | |
| nous | déterminerions | we would determine | |
| vous | détermineriez | you would determine | |
| ils / elles | détermineraient | they would determine |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul déterminerait la cause du problème.
Paul would determine the cause of the problem.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | détermine | (that) I determine | |
| tu | détermines | (that) you determine | |
| il / elle / on | détermine | (that) he / she / it determineson: (that) we determine / one determines | |
| nous | déterminions | (that) we determine | |
| vous | déterminiez | (that) you determine | |
| ils / elles | déterminent | (that) they determine |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul détermine la cause du problème.
It is possible that Paul determines the cause of the problem.
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 determine, establish
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