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 erect.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | dresse | I erect | |
| tu | dresses | you erect | |
| il / elle / on | dresse | he / she / it erectson: we erect / one erects | |
| nous | dressons | we erect | |
| vous | dressez | you erect | |
| ils / elles | dressent | they erect |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul dresse une tente près du lac.
Paul erects a tent near the lake.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai dressé | I erected | |
| tu | as dressé | you erected | |
| il / elle / on | a dressé | he / she / it erectedon: we erected / one erected | |
| nous | avons dressé | we erected | |
| vous | avez dressé | you erected | |
| ils / elles | ont dressé | they erected |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a dressé une tente près du lac.
Yesterday, Paul erected a tent near the lake.
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’ | dressais | I used to erect | |
| tu | dressais | you used to erect | |
| il / elle / on | dressait | he / she / it used to erecton: we used to erect / one used to erect | |
| nous | dressions | we used to erect | |
| vous | dressiez | you used to erect | |
| ils / elles | dressaient | they used to erect |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul dressait une tente près du lac.
Back then, Paul used to erect a tent near the lake.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | dresserai | I will erect | |
| tu | dresseras | you will erect | |
| il / elle / on | dressera | he / she / it will erecton: we will erect / one will erect | |
| nous | dresserons | we will erect | |
| vous | dresserez | you will erect | |
| ils / elles | dresseront | they will erect |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul dressera une tente près du lac.
Later, Paul will erect a tent near the lake.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | dresserais | I would erect | |
| tu | dresserais | you would erect | |
| il / elle / on | dresserait | he / she / it would erecton: we would erect / one would erect | |
| nous | dresserions | we would erect | |
| vous | dresseriez | you would erect | |
| ils / elles | dresseraient | they would erect |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul dresserait une tente près du lac.
Paul would erect a tent near the lake.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | dresse | (that) I erect | |
| tu | dresses | (that) you erect | |
| il / elle / on | dresse | (that) he / she / it erectson: (that) we erect / one erects | |
| nous | dressions | (that) we erect | |
| vous | dressiez | (that) you erect | |
| ils / elles | dressent | (that) they erect |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul dresse une tente près du lac.
It is possible that Paul erects a tent near the lake.
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 raise, to erect, to build
- to raise, to lift, to elevate
- to prepare; to draw up
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