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 educate.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | éduque | I educate | |
| tu | éduques | you educate | |
| il / elle / on | éduque | he / she / it educateson: we educate / one educates | |
| nous | éduquons | we educate | |
| vous | éduquez | you educate | |
| ils / elles | éduquent | they educate |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul éduque ses enfants avec patience.
Paul educates his children patiently.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai éduqué | I educated | |
| tu | as éduqué | you educated | |
| il / elle / on | a éduqué | he / she / it educatedon: we educated / one educated | |
| nous | avons éduqué | we educated | |
| vous | avez éduqué | you educated | |
| ils / elles | ont éduqué | they educated |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a éduqué ses enfants avec patience.
Yesterday, Paul educated his children patiently.
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’ | éduquais | I used to educate | |
| tu | éduquais | you used to educate | |
| il / elle / on | éduquait | he / she / it used to educateon: we used to educate / one used to educate | |
| nous | éduquions | we used to educate | |
| vous | éduquiez | you used to educate | |
| ils / elles | éduquaient | they used to educate |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul éduquait ses enfants avec patience.
Back then, Paul used to educate his children patiently.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | éduquerai | I will educate | |
| tu | éduqueras | you will educate | |
| il / elle / on | éduquera | he / she / it will educateon: we will educate / one will educate | |
| nous | éduquerons | we will educate | |
| vous | éduquerez | you will educate | |
| ils / elles | éduqueront | they will educate |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul éduquera ses enfants avec patience.
Later, Paul will educate his children patiently.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | éduquerais | I would educate | |
| tu | éduquerais | you would educate | |
| il / elle / on | éduquerait | he / she / it would educateon: we would educate / one would educate | |
| nous | éduquerions | we would educate | |
| vous | éduqueriez | you would educate | |
| ils / elles | éduqueraient | they would educate |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul éduquerait ses enfants avec patience.
Paul would educate his children patiently.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | éduque | (that) I educate | |
| tu | éduques | (that) you educate | |
| il / elle / on | éduque | (that) he / she / it educateson: (that) we educate / one educates | |
| nous | éduquions | (that) we educate | |
| vous | éduquiez | (that) you educate | |
| ils / elles | éduquent | (that) they educate |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul éduque ses enfants avec patience.
It is possible that Paul educates his children patiently.
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 educate
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