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 divide.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | divise | I divide | |
| tu | divises | you divide | |
| il / elle / on | divise | he / she / it divideson: we divide / one divides | |
| nous | divisons | we divide | |
| vous | divisez | you divide | |
| ils / elles | divisent | they divide |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul divise le gâteau en huit parts.
Paul divides the cake into eight slices.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai divisé | I divided | |
| tu | as divisé | you divided | |
| il / elle / on | a divisé | he / she / it dividedon: we divided / one divided | |
| nous | avons divisé | we divided | |
| vous | avez divisé | you divided | |
| ils / elles | ont divisé | they divided |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a divisé le gâteau en huit parts.
Yesterday, Paul divided the cake into eight slices.
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’ | divisais | I used to divide | |
| tu | divisais | you used to divide | |
| il / elle / on | divisait | he / she / it used to divideon: we used to divide / one used to divide | |
| nous | divisions | we used to divide | |
| vous | divisiez | you used to divide | |
| ils / elles | divisaient | they used to divide |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul divisait le gâteau en huit parts.
Back then, Paul used to divide the cake into eight slices.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | diviserai | I will divide | |
| tu | diviseras | you will divide | |
| il / elle / on | divisera | he / she / it will divideon: we will divide / one will divide | |
| nous | diviserons | we will divide | |
| vous | diviserez | you will divide | |
| ils / elles | diviseront | they will divide |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul divisera le gâteau en huit parts.
Later, Paul will divide the cake into eight slices.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | diviserais | I would divide | |
| tu | diviserais | you would divide | |
| il / elle / on | diviserait | he / she / it would divideon: we would divide / one would divide | |
| nous | diviserions | we would divide | |
| vous | diviseriez | you would divide | |
| ils / elles | diviseraient | they would divide |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul diviserait le gâteau en huit parts.
Paul would divide the cake into eight slices.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | divise | (that) I divide | |
| tu | divises | (that) you divide | |
| il / elle / on | divise | (that) he / she / it divideson: (that) we divide / one divides | |
| nous | divisions | (that) we divide | |
| vous | divisiez | (that) you divide | |
| ils / elles | divisent | (that) they divide |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul divise le gâteau en huit parts.
It is possible that Paul divides the cake into eight slices.
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 divide
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