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 part.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | écarte | I part | |
| tu | écartes | you part | |
| il / elle / on | écarte | he / she / it partson: we part / one parts | |
| nous | écartons | we part | |
| vous | écartez | you part | |
| ils / elles | écartent | they part |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul écarte les rideaux pour regarder dehors.
Paul parts the curtains to look outside.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai écarté | I parted | |
| tu | as écarté | you parted | |
| il / elle / on | a écarté | he / she / it partedon: we parted / one parted | |
| nous | avons écarté | we parted | |
| vous | avez écarté | you parted | |
| ils / elles | ont écarté | they parted |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a écarté les rideaux pour regarder dehors.
Yesterday, Paul parted the curtains to look outside.
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’ | écartais | I used to part | |
| tu | écartais | you used to part | |
| il / elle / on | écartait | he / she / it used to parton: we used to part / one used to part | |
| nous | écartions | we used to part | |
| vous | écartiez | you used to part | |
| ils / elles | écartaient | they used to part |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul écartait les rideaux pour regarder dehors.
Back then, Paul used to part the curtains to look outside.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | écarterai | I will part | |
| tu | écarteras | you will part | |
| il / elle / on | écartera | he / she / it will parton: we will part / one will part | |
| nous | écarterons | we will part | |
| vous | écarterez | you will part | |
| ils / elles | écarteront | they will part |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul écartera les rideaux pour regarder dehors.
Later, Paul will part the curtains to look outside.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | écarterais | I would part | |
| tu | écarterais | you would part | |
| il / elle / on | écarterait | he / she / it would parton: we would part / one would part | |
| nous | écarterions | we would part | |
| vous | écarteriez | you would part | |
| ils / elles | écarteraient | they would part |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul écarterait les rideaux pour regarder dehors.
Paul would part the curtains to look outside.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | écarte | (that) I part | |
| tu | écartes | (that) you part | |
| il / elle / on | écarte | (that) he / she / it partson: (that) we part / one parts | |
| nous | écartions | (that) we part | |
| vous | écartiez | (that) you part | |
| ils / elles | écartent | (that) they part |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul écarte les rideaux pour regarder dehors.
It is possible that Paul parts the curtains to look outside.
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 separate, move apart
- to spread, open (fingers, legs etc)
- to draw (curtains)
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