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 encourage.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | encourage | I encourage | |
| tu | encourages | you encourage | |
| il / elle / on | encourage | he / she / it encourageson: we encourage / one encourages | |
| nous | encourageons | we encourage | |
| vous | encouragez | you encourage | |
| ils / elles | encouragent | they encourage |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul encourage son frère à continuer.
Paul encourages his brother to continue.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai encouragé | I encouraged | |
| tu | as encouragé | you encouraged | |
| il / elle / on | a encouragé | he / she / it encouragedon: we encouraged / one encouraged | |
| nous | avons encouragé | we encouraged | |
| vous | avez encouragé | you encouraged | |
| ils / elles | ont encouragé | they encouraged |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a encouragé son frère à continuer.
Yesterday, Paul encouraged his brother to continue.
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’ | encourageais | I used to encourage | |
| tu | encourageais | you used to encourage | |
| il / elle / on | encourageait | he / she / it used to encourageon: we used to encourage / one used to encourage | |
| nous | encouragions | we used to encourage | |
| vous | encouragiez | you used to encourage | |
| ils / elles | encourageaient | they used to encourage |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul encourageait son frère à continuer.
Back then, Paul used to encourage his brother to continue.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | encouragerai | I will encourage | |
| tu | encourageras | you will encourage | |
| il / elle / on | encouragera | he / she / it will encourageon: we will encourage / one will encourage | |
| nous | encouragerons | we will encourage | |
| vous | encouragerez | you will encourage | |
| ils / elles | encourageront | they will encourage |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul encouragera son frère à continuer.
Later, Paul will encourage his brother to continue.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | encouragerais | I would encourage | |
| tu | encouragerais | you would encourage | |
| il / elle / on | encouragerait | he / she / it would encourageon: we would encourage / one would encourage | |
| nous | encouragerions | we would encourage | |
| vous | encourageriez | you would encourage | |
| ils / elles | encourageraient | they would encourage |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul encouragerait son frère à continuer.
Paul would encourage his brother to continue.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | encourage | (that) I encourage | |
| tu | encourages | (that) you encourage | |
| il / elle / on | encourage | (that) he / she / it encourageson: (that) we encourage / one encourages | |
| nous | encouragions | (that) we encourage | |
| vous | encouragiez | (that) you encourage | |
| ils / elles | encouragent | (that) they encourage |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul encourage son frère à continuer.
It is possible that Paul encourages his brother to continue.
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 encourage
- to promote
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