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 lock away.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | enferme | I lock away | |
| tu | enfermes | you lock away | |
| il / elle / on | enferme | he / she / it locks awayon: we lock away / one locks away | |
| nous | enfermons | we lock away | |
| vous | enfermez | you lock away | |
| ils / elles | enferment | they lock away |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul enferme les documents dans une armoire.
Paul locks away the documents in a cupboard.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai enfermé | I locked away | |
| tu | as enfermé | you locked away | |
| il / elle / on | a enfermé | he / she / it locked awayon: we locked away / one locked away | |
| nous | avons enfermé | we locked away | |
| vous | avez enfermé | you locked away | |
| ils / elles | ont enfermé | they locked away |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a enfermé les documents dans une armoire.
Yesterday, Paul locked away the documents in a cupboard.
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’ | enfermais | I used to lock away | |
| tu | enfermais | you used to lock away | |
| il / elle / on | enfermait | he / she / it used to lock awayon: we used to lock away / one used to lock away | |
| nous | enfermions | we used to lock away | |
| vous | enfermiez | you used to lock away | |
| ils / elles | enfermaient | they used to lock away |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul enfermait les documents dans une armoire.
Back then, Paul used to lock away the documents in a cupboard.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | enfermerai | I will lock away | |
| tu | enfermeras | you will lock away | |
| il / elle / on | enfermera | he / she / it will lock awayon: we will lock away / one will lock away | |
| nous | enfermerons | we will lock away | |
| vous | enfermerez | you will lock away | |
| ils / elles | enfermeront | they will lock away |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul enfermera les documents dans une armoire.
Later, Paul will lock away the documents in a cupboard.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | enfermerais | I would lock away | |
| tu | enfermerais | you would lock away | |
| il / elle / on | enfermerait | he / she / it would lock awayon: we would lock away / one would lock away | |
| nous | enfermerions | we would lock away | |
| vous | enfermeriez | you would lock away | |
| ils / elles | enfermeraient | they would lock away |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul enfermerait les documents dans une armoire.
Paul would lock away the documents in a cupboard.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | enferme | (that) I lock away | |
| tu | enfermes | (that) you lock away | |
| il / elle / on | enferme | (that) he / she / it locks awayon: (that) we lock away / one locks away | |
| nous | enfermions | (that) we lock away | |
| vous | enfermiez | (that) you lock away | |
| ils / elles | enferment | (that) they lock away |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul enferme les documents dans une armoire.
It is possible that Paul locks away the documents in a cupboard.
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 lock up, lock in, lock away
- to imprison, entrap
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