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 sell off.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | écoule | I sell off | |
| tu | écoules | you sell off | |
| il / elle / on | écoule | he / she / it sells offon: we sell off / one sells off | |
| nous | écoulons | we sell off | |
| vous | écoulez | you sell off | |
| ils / elles | écoulent | they sell off |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul écoule son stock de vêtements.
Paul sells off his stock of clothes.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai écoulé | I sold off | |
| tu | as écoulé | you sold off | |
| il / elle / on | a écoulé | he / she / it sold offon: we sold off / one sold off | |
| nous | avons écoulé | we sold off | |
| vous | avez écoulé | you sold off | |
| ils / elles | ont écoulé | they sold off |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a écoulé son stock de vêtements.
Yesterday, Paul sold off his stock of clothes.
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’ | écoulais | I used to sell off | |
| tu | écoulais | you used to sell off | |
| il / elle / on | écoulait | he / she / it used to sell offon: we used to sell off / one used to sell off | |
| nous | écoulions | we used to sell off | |
| vous | écouliez | you used to sell off | |
| ils / elles | écoulaient | they used to sell off |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul écoulait son stock de vêtements.
Back then, Paul used to sell off his stock of clothes.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | écoulerai | I will sell off | |
| tu | écouleras | you will sell off | |
| il / elle / on | écoulera | he / she / it will sell offon: we will sell off / one will sell off | |
| nous | écoulerons | we will sell off | |
| vous | écoulerez | you will sell off | |
| ils / elles | écouleront | they will sell off |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul écoulera son stock de vêtements.
Later, Paul will sell off his stock of clothes.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | écoulerais | I would sell off | |
| tu | écoulerais | you would sell off | |
| il / elle / on | écoulerait | he / she / it would sell offon: we would sell off / one would sell off | |
| nous | écoulerions | we would sell off | |
| vous | écouleriez | you would sell off | |
| ils / elles | écouleraient | they would sell off |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul écoulerait son stock de vêtements.
Paul would sell off his stock of clothes.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | écoule | (that) I sell off | |
| tu | écoules | (that) you sell off | |
| il / elle / on | écoule | (that) he / she / it sells offon: (that) we sell off / one sells off | |
| nous | écoulions | (that) we sell off | |
| vous | écouliez | (that) you sell off | |
| ils / elles | écoulent | (that) they sell off |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul écoule son stock de vêtements.
It is possible that Paul sells off his stock of clothes.
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 sell off, to shift
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