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 use.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | emploie | I use | |
| tu | emploies | you use | |
| il / elle / on | emploie | he / she / it useson: we use / one uses | |
| nous | employons | we use | |
| vous | employez | you use | |
| ils / elles | emploient | they use |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul emploie un pinceau fin pour les détails.
Paul uses a fine brush for the details.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai employé | I used | |
| tu | as employé | you used | |
| il / elle / on | a employé | he / she / it usedon: we used / one used | |
| nous | avons employé | we used | |
| vous | avez employé | you used | |
| ils / elles | ont employé | they used |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a employé un pinceau fin pour les détails.
Yesterday, Paul used a fine brush for the details.
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’ | employais | I used to use | |
| tu | employais | you used to use | |
| il / elle / on | employait | he / she / it used to useon: we used to use / one used to use | |
| nous | employions | we used to use | |
| vous | employiez | you used to use | |
| ils / elles | employaient | they used to use |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul employait un pinceau fin pour les détails.
Back then, Paul used to use a fine brush for the details.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | emploierai | I will use | |
| tu | emploieras | you will use | |
| il / elle / on | emploiera | he / she / it will useon: we will use / one will use | |
| nous | emploierons | we will use | |
| vous | emploierez | you will use | |
| ils / elles | emploieront | they will use |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul emploiera un pinceau fin pour les détails.
Later, Paul will use a fine brush for the details.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | emploierais | I would use | |
| tu | emploierais | you would use | |
| il / elle / on | emploierait | he / she / it would useon: we would use / one would use | |
| nous | emploierions | we would use | |
| vous | emploieriez | you would use | |
| ils / elles | emploieraient | they would use |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul emploierait un pinceau fin pour les détails.
Paul would use a fine brush for the details.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | emploie | (that) I use | |
| tu | emploies | (that) you use | |
| il / elle / on | emploie | (that) he / she / it useson: (that) we use / one uses | |
| nous | employions | (that) we use | |
| vous | employiez | (that) you use | |
| ils / elles | emploient | (that) they use |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul emploie un pinceau fin pour les détails.
It is possible that Paul uses a fine brush for the details.
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 use (a physical thing)
- to use (an abstract)
- to employ (a person)
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