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 light up.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | éclaire | I light up | |
| tu | éclaires | you light up | |
| il / elle / on | éclaire | he / she / it lights upon: we light up / one lights up | |
| nous | éclairons | we light up | |
| vous | éclairez | you light up | |
| ils / elles | éclairent | they light up |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Le soleil éclaire la pièce par la fenêtre.
The sun lights up the room through the window.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai éclairé | I lit up | |
| tu | as éclairé | you lit up | |
| il / elle / on | a éclairé | he / she / it lit upon: we lit up / one lit up | |
| nous | avons éclairé | we lit up | |
| vous | avez éclairé | you lit up | |
| ils / elles | ont éclairé | they lit up |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, le soleil a éclairé la pièce par la fenêtre.
Yesterday, the sun lit up the room through the window.
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’ | éclairais | I used to light up | |
| tu | éclairais | you used to light up | |
| il / elle / on | éclairait | he / she / it used to light upon: we used to light up / one used to light up | |
| nous | éclairions | we used to light up | |
| vous | éclairiez | you used to light up | |
| ils / elles | éclairaient | they used to light up |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, le soleil éclairait la pièce par la fenêtre.
Back then, the sun used to light up the room through the window.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | éclairerai | I will light up | |
| tu | éclaireras | you will light up | |
| il / elle / on | éclairera | he / she / it will light upon: we will light up / one will light up | |
| nous | éclairerons | we will light up | |
| vous | éclairerez | you will light up | |
| ils / elles | éclaireront | they will light up |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, le soleil éclairera la pièce par la fenêtre.
Later, the sun will light up the room through the window.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | éclairerais | I would light up | |
| tu | éclairerais | you would light up | |
| il / elle / on | éclairerait | he / she / it would light upon: we would light up / one would light up | |
| nous | éclairerions | we would light up | |
| vous | éclaireriez | you would light up | |
| ils / elles | éclaireraient | they would light up |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Le soleil éclairerait la pièce par la fenêtre.
The sun would light up the room through the window.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | éclaire | (that) I light up | |
| tu | éclaires | (that) you light up | |
| il / elle / on | éclaire | (that) he / she / it lights upon: (that) we light up / one lights up | |
| nous | éclairions | (that) we light up | |
| vous | éclairiez | (that) you light up | |
| ils / elles | éclairent | (that) they light up |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que le soleil éclaire la pièce par la fenêtre.
It is possible that the sun lights up the room through the window.
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 light up; to brighten
- to shed light on; to enlighten
- to scout
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