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 distinguish.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | distingue | I distinguish | |
| tu | distingues | you distinguish | |
| il / elle / on | distingue | he / she / it distinguisheson: we distinguish / one distinguishes | |
| nous | distinguons | we distinguish | |
| vous | distinguez | you distinguish | |
| ils / elles | distinguent | they distinguish |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul distingue les deux voix au téléphone.
Paul distinguishes the two voices on the telephone.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai distingué | I distinguished | |
| tu | as distingué | you distinguished | |
| il / elle / on | a distingué | he / she / it distinguishedon: we distinguished / one distinguished | |
| nous | avons distingué | we distinguished | |
| vous | avez distingué | you distinguished | |
| ils / elles | ont distingué | they distinguished |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a distingué les deux voix au téléphone.
Yesterday, Paul distinguished the two voices on the telephone.
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’ | distinguais | I used to distinguish | |
| tu | distinguais | you used to distinguish | |
| il / elle / on | distinguait | he / she / it used to distinguishon: we used to distinguish / one used to distinguish | |
| nous | distinguions | we used to distinguish | |
| vous | distinguiez | you used to distinguish | |
| ils / elles | distinguaient | they used to distinguish |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul distinguait les deux voix au téléphone.
Back then, Paul used to distinguish the two voices on the telephone.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | distinguerai | I will distinguish | |
| tu | distingueras | you will distinguish | |
| il / elle / on | distinguera | he / she / it will distinguishon: we will distinguish / one will distinguish | |
| nous | distinguerons | we will distinguish | |
| vous | distinguerez | you will distinguish | |
| ils / elles | distingueront | they will distinguish |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul distinguera les deux voix au téléphone.
Later, Paul will distinguish the two voices on the telephone.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | distinguerais | I would distinguish | |
| tu | distinguerais | you would distinguish | |
| il / elle / on | distinguerait | he / she / it would distinguishon: we would distinguish / one would distinguish | |
| nous | distinguerions | we would distinguish | |
| vous | distingueriez | you would distinguish | |
| ils / elles | distingueraient | they would distinguish |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul distinguerait les deux voix au téléphone.
Paul would distinguish the two voices on the telephone.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | distingue | (that) I distinguish | |
| tu | distingues | (that) you distinguish | |
| il / elle / on | distingue | (that) he / she / it distinguisheson: (that) we distinguish / one distinguishes | |
| nous | distinguions | (that) we distinguish | |
| vous | distinguiez | (that) you distinguish | |
| ils / elles | distinguent | (that) they distinguish |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul distingue les deux voix au téléphone.
It is possible that Paul distinguishes the two voices on the telephone.
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 distinguish
- to make out (with one of the senses, often visually)
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