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 chain.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | enchaîne | I chain | |
| tu | enchaînes | you chain | |
| il / elle / on | enchaîne | he / she / it chainson: we chain / one chains | |
| nous | enchaînons | we chain | |
| vous | enchaînez | you chain | |
| ils / elles | enchaînent | they chain |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul enchaîne son vélo à la grille.
Paul chains his bicycle to the fence.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai enchaîné | I chained | |
| tu | as enchaîné | you chained | |
| il / elle / on | a enchaîné | he / she / it chainedon: we chained / one chained | |
| nous | avons enchaîné | we chained | |
| vous | avez enchaîné | you chained | |
| ils / elles | ont enchaîné | they chained |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a enchaîné son vélo à la grille.
Yesterday, Paul chained his bicycle to the fence.
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’ | enchaînais | I used to chain | |
| tu | enchaînais | you used to chain | |
| il / elle / on | enchaînait | he / she / it used to chainon: we used to chain / one used to chain | |
| nous | enchaînions | we used to chain | |
| vous | enchaîniez | you used to chain | |
| ils / elles | enchaînaient | they used to chain |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul enchaînait son vélo à la grille.
Back then, Paul used to chain his bicycle to the fence.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | enchaînerai | I will chain | |
| tu | enchaîneras | you will chain | |
| il / elle / on | enchaînera | he / she / it will chainon: we will chain / one will chain | |
| nous | enchaînerons | we will chain | |
| vous | enchaînerez | you will chain | |
| ils / elles | enchaîneront | they will chain |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul enchaînera son vélo à la grille.
Later, Paul will chain his bicycle to the fence.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | enchaînerais | I would chain | |
| tu | enchaînerais | you would chain | |
| il / elle / on | enchaînerait | he / she / it would chainon: we would chain / one would chain | |
| nous | enchaînerions | we would chain | |
| vous | enchaîneriez | you would chain | |
| ils / elles | enchaîneraient | they would chain |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul enchaînerait son vélo à la grille.
Paul would chain his bicycle to the fence.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | enchaîne | (that) I chain | |
| tu | enchaînes | (that) you chain | |
| il / elle / on | enchaîne | (that) he / she / it chainson: (that) we chain / one chains | |
| nous | enchaînions | (that) we chain | |
| vous | enchaîniez | (that) you chain | |
| ils / elles | enchaînent | (that) they chain |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul enchaîne son vélo à la grille.
It is possible that Paul chains his bicycle to the fence.
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 chain, to shackle
- to subjugate, to enslave
- to put together (in a sequence), to concatenate
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