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 elect.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | élis | I elect | |
| tu | élis | you elect | |
| il / elle / on | élit | he / she / it electson: we elect / one elects | |
| nous | élisons | we elect | |
| vous | élisez | you elect | |
| ils / elles | élisent | they elect |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Le conseil élit un nouveau président.
The council elects a new chairperson.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai élu | I elected | |
| tu | as élu | you elected | |
| il / elle / on | a élu | he / she / it electedon: we elected / one elected | |
| nous | avons élu | we elected | |
| vous | avez élu | you elected | |
| ils / elles | ont élu | they elected |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, le conseil a élu un nouveau président.
Yesterday, the council elected a new chairperson.
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’ | élisais | I used to elect | |
| tu | élisais | you used to elect | |
| il / elle / on | élisait | he / she / it used to electon: we used to elect / one used to elect | |
| nous | élisions | we used to elect | |
| vous | élisiez | you used to elect | |
| ils / elles | élisaient | they used to elect |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, le conseil élisait un nouveau président.
Back then, the council used to elect a new chairperson.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | élirai | I will elect | |
| tu | éliras | you will elect | |
| il / elle / on | élira | he / she / it will electon: we will elect / one will elect | |
| nous | élirons | we will elect | |
| vous | élirez | you will elect | |
| ils / elles | éliront | they will elect |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, le conseil élira un nouveau président.
Later, the council will elect a new chairperson.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | élirais | I would elect | |
| tu | élirais | you would elect | |
| il / elle / on | élirait | he / she / it would electon: we would elect / one would elect | |
| nous | élirions | we would elect | |
| vous | éliriez | you would elect | |
| ils / elles | éliraient | they would elect |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Le conseil élirait un nouveau président.
The council would elect a new chairperson.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | élise | (that) I elect | |
| tu | élises | (that) you elect | |
| il / elle / on | élise | (that) he / she / it electson: (that) we elect / one elects | |
| nous | élisions | (that) we elect | |
| vous | élisiez | (that) you elect | |
| ils / elles | élisent | (that) they elect |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que le conseil élise un nouveau président.
It is possible that the council elects a new chairperson.
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 elect
- to take up (residence)
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