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 save.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | économise | I save | |
| tu | économises | you save | |
| il / elle / on | économise | he / she / it saveson: we save / one saves | |
| nous | économisons | we save | |
| vous | économisez | you save | |
| ils / elles | économisent | they save |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul économise de l'argent pour son voyage.
Paul saves money for his trip.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai économisé | I saved | |
| tu | as économisé | you saved | |
| il / elle / on | a économisé | he / she / it savedon: we saved / one saved | |
| nous | avons économisé | we saved | |
| vous | avez économisé | you saved | |
| ils / elles | ont économisé | they saved |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a économisé de l'argent pour son voyage.
Yesterday, Paul saved money for his trip.
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’ | économisais | I used to save | |
| tu | économisais | you used to save | |
| il / elle / on | économisait | he / she / it used to saveon: we used to save / one used to save | |
| nous | économisions | we used to save | |
| vous | économisiez | you used to save | |
| ils / elles | économisaient | they used to save |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul économisait de l'argent pour son voyage.
Back then, Paul used to save money for his trip.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | économiserai | I will save | |
| tu | économiseras | you will save | |
| il / elle / on | économisera | he / she / it will saveon: we will save / one will save | |
| nous | économiserons | we will save | |
| vous | économiserez | you will save | |
| ils / elles | économiseront | they will save |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul économisera de l'argent pour son voyage.
Later, Paul will save money for his trip.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | économiserais | I would save | |
| tu | économiserais | you would save | |
| il / elle / on | économiserait | he / she / it would saveon: we would save / one would save | |
| nous | économiserions | we would save | |
| vous | économiseriez | you would save | |
| ils / elles | économiseraient | they would save |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul économiserait de l'argent pour son voyage.
Paul would save money for his trip.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | économise | (that) I save | |
| tu | économises | (that) you save | |
| il / elle / on | économise | (that) he / she / it saveson: (that) we save / one saves | |
| nous | économisions | (that) we save | |
| vous | économisiez | (that) you save | |
| ils / elles | économisent | (that) they save |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul économise de l'argent pour son voyage.
It is possible that Paul saves money for his trip.
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 economise (to conserve money)
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