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 escape.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | échappe | I escape | |
| tu | échappes | you escape | |
| il / elle / on | échappe | he / she / it escapeson: we escape / one escapes | |
| nous | échappons | we escape | |
| vous | échappez | you escape | |
| ils / elles | échappent | they escape |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul échappe au danger.
Paul escapes danger.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai échappé | I escaped | |
| tu | as échappé | you escaped | |
| il / elle / on | a échappé | he / she / it escapedon: we escaped / one escaped | |
| nous | avons échappé | we escaped | |
| vous | avez échappé | you escaped | |
| ils / elles | ont échappé | they escaped |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a échappé au danger.
Yesterday, Paul escaped danger.
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’ | échappais | I used to escape | |
| tu | échappais | you used to escape | |
| il / elle / on | échappait | he / she / it used to escapeon: we used to escape / one used to escape | |
| nous | échappions | we used to escape | |
| vous | échappiez | you used to escape | |
| ils / elles | échappaient | they used to escape |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul échappait au danger.
Back then, Paul used to escape danger.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | échapperai | I will escape | |
| tu | échapperas | you will escape | |
| il / elle / on | échappera | he / she / it will escapeon: we will escape / one will escape | |
| nous | échapperons | we will escape | |
| vous | échapperez | you will escape | |
| ils / elles | échapperont | they will escape |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul échappera au danger.
Later, Paul will escape danger.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | échapperais | I would escape | |
| tu | échapperais | you would escape | |
| il / elle / on | échapperait | he / she / it would escapeon: we would escape / one would escape | |
| nous | échapperions | we would escape | |
| vous | échapperiez | you would escape | |
| ils / elles | échapperaient | they would escape |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul échapperait au danger.
Paul would escape danger.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | échappe | (that) I escape | |
| tu | échappes | (that) you escape | |
| il / elle / on | échappe | (that) he / she / it escapeson: (that) we escape / one escapes | |
| nous | échappions | (that) we escape | |
| vous | échappiez | (that) you escape | |
| ils / elles | échappent | (that) they escape |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul échappe au danger.
It is possible that Paul escapes danger.
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 escape (from), evade
- to drop an object unintentionally
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