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 mash.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | écrase | I mash | |
| tu | écrases | you mash | |
| il / elle / on | écrase | he / she / it masheson: we mash / one mashes | |
| nous | écrasons | we mash | |
| vous | écrasez | you mash | |
| ils / elles | écrasent | they mash |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul écrase les pommes de terre avec une fourchette.
Paul mashes the potatoes with a fork.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai écrasé | I mashed | |
| tu | as écrasé | you mashed | |
| il / elle / on | a écrasé | he / she / it mashedon: we mashed / one mashed | |
| nous | avons écrasé | we mashed | |
| vous | avez écrasé | you mashed | |
| ils / elles | ont écrasé | they mashed |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a écrasé les pommes de terre avec une fourchette.
Yesterday, Paul mashed the potatoes with a fork.
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’ | écrasais | I used to mash | |
| tu | écrasais | you used to mash | |
| il / elle / on | écrasait | he / she / it used to mashon: we used to mash / one used to mash | |
| nous | écrasions | we used to mash | |
| vous | écrasiez | you used to mash | |
| ils / elles | écrasaient | they used to mash |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul écrasait les pommes de terre avec une fourchette.
Back then, Paul used to mash the potatoes with a fork.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | écraserai | I will mash | |
| tu | écraseras | you will mash | |
| il / elle / on | écrasera | he / she / it will mashon: we will mash / one will mash | |
| nous | écraserons | we will mash | |
| vous | écraserez | you will mash | |
| ils / elles | écraseront | they will mash |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul écrasera les pommes de terre avec une fourchette.
Later, Paul will mash the potatoes with a fork.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | écraserais | I would mash | |
| tu | écraserais | you would mash | |
| il / elle / on | écraserait | he / she / it would mashon: we would mash / one would mash | |
| nous | écraserions | we would mash | |
| vous | écraseriez | you would mash | |
| ils / elles | écraseraient | they would mash |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul écraserait les pommes de terre avec une fourchette.
Paul would mash the potatoes with a fork.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | écrase | (that) I mash | |
| tu | écrases | (that) you mash | |
| il / elle / on | écrase | (that) he / she / it masheson: (that) we mash / one mashes | |
| nous | écrasions | (that) we mash | |
| vous | écrasiez | (that) you mash | |
| ils / elles | écrasent | (that) they mash |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul écrase les pommes de terre avec une fourchette.
It is possible that Paul mashes the potatoes with a fork.
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 squash
- to obliterate
- to mash (vegetables), to crush (garlic)
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