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 draw up.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | élabore | I draw up | |
| tu | élabores | you draw up | |
| il / elle / on | élabore | he / she / it draws upon: we draw up / one draws up | |
| nous | élaborons | we draw up | |
| vous | élaborez | you draw up | |
| ils / elles | élaborent | they draw up |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul élabore un plan pour le jardin.
Paul draws up a plan for the garden.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai élaboré | I drew up | |
| tu | as élaboré | you drew up | |
| il / elle / on | a élaboré | he / she / it drew upon: we drew up / one drew up | |
| nous | avons élaboré | we drew up | |
| vous | avez élaboré | you drew up | |
| ils / elles | ont élaboré | they drew up |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a élaboré un plan pour le jardin.
Yesterday, Paul drew up a plan for the garden.
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’ | élaborais | I used to draw up | |
| tu | élaborais | you used to draw up | |
| il / elle / on | élaborait | he / she / it used to draw upon: we used to draw up / one used to draw up | |
| nous | élaborions | we used to draw up | |
| vous | élaboriez | you used to draw up | |
| ils / elles | élaboraient | they used to draw up |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul élaborait un plan pour le jardin.
Back then, Paul used to draw up a plan for the garden.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | élaborerai | I will draw up | |
| tu | élaboreras | you will draw up | |
| il / elle / on | élaborera | he / she / it will draw upon: we will draw up / one will draw up | |
| nous | élaborerons | we will draw up | |
| vous | élaborerez | you will draw up | |
| ils / elles | élaboreront | they will draw up |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul élaborera un plan pour le jardin.
Later, Paul will draw up a plan for the garden.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | élaborerais | I would draw up | |
| tu | élaborerais | you would draw up | |
| il / elle / on | élaborerait | he / she / it would draw upon: we would draw up / one would draw up | |
| nous | élaborerions | we would draw up | |
| vous | élaboreriez | you would draw up | |
| ils / elles | élaboreraient | they would draw up |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul élaborerait un plan pour le jardin.
Paul would draw up a plan for the garden.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | élabore | (that) I draw up | |
| tu | élabores | (that) you draw up | |
| il / elle / on | élabore | (that) he / she / it draws upon: (that) we draw up / one draws up | |
| nous | élaborions | (that) we draw up | |
| vous | élaboriez | (that) you draw up | |
| ils / elles | élaborent | (that) they draw up |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul élabore un plan pour le jardin.
It is possible that Paul draws up a plan for the garden.
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 draw up, write up, make up, whip up, put together
- to process farther, to produce, to develop, to metabolize
- to elaborate, to work out
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