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 distract.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | distrais | I distract | |
| tu | distrais | you distract | |
| il / elle / on | distrait | he / she / it distractson: we distract / one distracts | |
| nous | distrayons | we distract | |
| vous | distrayez | you distract | |
| ils / elles | distraient | they distract |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Le bruit distrait Paul pendant sa lecture.
The noise distracts Paul during his reading.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai distrait | I distracted | |
| tu | as distrait | you distracted | |
| il / elle / on | a distrait | he / she / it distractedon: we distracted / one distracted | |
| nous | avons distrait | we distracted | |
| vous | avez distrait | you distracted | |
| ils / elles | ont distrait | they distracted |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, le bruit a distrait Paul pendant sa lecture.
Yesterday, the noise distracted Paul during his reading.
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’ | distrayais | I used to distract | |
| tu | distrayais | you used to distract | |
| il / elle / on | distrayait | he / she / it used to distracton: we used to distract / one used to distract | |
| nous | distrayions | we used to distract | |
| vous | distrayiez | you used to distract | |
| ils / elles | distrayaient | they used to distract |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, le bruit distrayait Paul pendant sa lecture.
Back then, the noise used to distract Paul during his reading.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | distrairai | I will distract | |
| tu | distrairas | you will distract | |
| il / elle / on | distraira | he / she / it will distracton: we will distract / one will distract | |
| nous | distrairons | we will distract | |
| vous | distrairez | you will distract | |
| ils / elles | distrairont | they will distract |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, le bruit distraira Paul pendant sa lecture.
Later, the noise will distract Paul during his reading.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | distrairais | I would distract | |
| tu | distrairais | you would distract | |
| il / elle / on | distrairait | he / she / it would distracton: we would distract / one would distract | |
| nous | distrairions | we would distract | |
| vous | distrairiez | you would distract | |
| ils / elles | distrairaient | they would distract |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Le bruit distrairait Paul pendant sa lecture.
The noise would distract Paul during his reading.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | distraie | (that) I distract | |
| tu | distraies | (that) you distract | |
| il / elle / on | distraie | (that) he / she / it distractson: (that) we distract / one distracts | |
| nous | distrayions | (that) we distract | |
| vous | distrayiez | (that) you distract | |
| ils / elles | distraient | (that) they distract |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que le bruit distraie Paul pendant sa lecture.
It is possible that the noise distracts Paul during his reading.
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 distract
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