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 emit.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | émets | I emit | |
| tu | émets | you emit | |
| il / elle / on | émet | he / she / it emitson: we emit / one emits | |
| nous | émettons | we emit | |
| vous | émettez | you emit | |
| ils / elles | émettent | they emit |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Ce moteur émet peu de bruit.
This engine emits little noise.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai émis | I emitted | |
| tu | as émis | you emitted | |
| il / elle / on | a émis | he / she / it emittedon: we emitted / one emitted | |
| nous | avons émis | we emitted | |
| vous | avez émis | you emitted | |
| ils / elles | ont émis | they emitted |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, ce moteur a émis peu de bruit.
Yesterday, this engine emitted little noise.
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’ | émettais | I used to emit | |
| tu | émettais | you used to emit | |
| il / elle / on | émettait | he / she / it used to emiton: we used to emit / one used to emit | |
| nous | émettions | we used to emit | |
| vous | émettiez | you used to emit | |
| ils / elles | émettaient | they used to emit |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, ce moteur émettait peu de bruit.
Back then, this engine used to emit little noise.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | émettrai | I will emit | |
| tu | émettras | you will emit | |
| il / elle / on | émettra | he / she / it will emiton: we will emit / one will emit | |
| nous | émettrons | we will emit | |
| vous | émettrez | you will emit | |
| ils / elles | émettront | they will emit |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, ce moteur émettra peu de bruit.
Later, this engine will emit little noise.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | émettrais | I would emit | |
| tu | émettrais | you would emit | |
| il / elle / on | émettrait | he / she / it would emiton: we would emit / one would emit | |
| nous | émettrions | we would emit | |
| vous | émettriez | you would emit | |
| ils / elles | émettraient | they would emit |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Ce moteur émettrait peu de bruit.
This engine would emit little noise.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | émette | (that) I emit | |
| tu | émettes | (that) you emit | |
| il / elle / on | émette | (that) he / she / it emitson: (that) we emit / one emits | |
| nous | émettions | (that) we emit | |
| vous | émettiez | (that) you emit | |
| ils / elles | émettent | (that) they emit |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que ce moteur émette peu de bruit.
It is possible that this engine emits little noise.
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 emit
- to state, to express
- to issue
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