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 drive.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | enfonce | I drive | |
| tu | enfonces | you drive | |
| il / elle / on | enfonce | he / she / it driveson: we drive / one drives | |
| nous | enfonçons | we drive | |
| vous | enfoncez | you drive | |
| ils / elles | enfoncent | they drive |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul enfonce un clou dans la planche.
Paul drives a nail into the board.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai enfoncé | I drove | |
| tu | as enfoncé | you drove | |
| il / elle / on | a enfoncé | he / she / it droveon: we drove / one drove | |
| nous | avons enfoncé | we drove | |
| vous | avez enfoncé | you drove | |
| ils / elles | ont enfoncé | they drove |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a enfoncé un clou dans la planche.
Yesterday, Paul drove a nail into the board.
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’ | enfonçais | I used to drive | |
| tu | enfonçais | you used to drive | |
| il / elle / on | enfonçait | he / she / it used to driveon: we used to drive / one used to drive | |
| nous | enfoncions | we used to drive | |
| vous | enfonciez | you used to drive | |
| ils / elles | enfonçaient | they used to drive |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul enfonçait un clou dans la planche.
Back then, Paul used to drive a nail into the board.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | enfoncerai | I will drive | |
| tu | enfonceras | you will drive | |
| il / elle / on | enfoncera | he / she / it will driveon: we will drive / one will drive | |
| nous | enfoncerons | we will drive | |
| vous | enfoncerez | you will drive | |
| ils / elles | enfonceront | they will drive |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul enfoncera un clou dans la planche.
Later, Paul will drive a nail into the board.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | enfoncerais | I would drive | |
| tu | enfoncerais | you would drive | |
| il / elle / on | enfoncerait | he / she / it would driveon: we would drive / one would drive | |
| nous | enfoncerions | we would drive | |
| vous | enfonceriez | you would drive | |
| ils / elles | enfonceraient | they would drive |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul enfoncerait un clou dans la planche.
Paul would drive a nail into the board.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | enfonce | (that) I drive | |
| tu | enfonces | (that) you drive | |
| il / elle / on | enfonce | (that) he / she / it driveson: (that) we drive / one drives | |
| nous | enfoncions | (that) we drive | |
| vous | enfonciez | (that) you drive | |
| ils / elles | enfoncent | (that) they drive |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul enfonce un clou dans la planche.
It is possible that Paul drives a nail into the board.
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 push in, to press in, to drive in
- to break open, to break down
- to defeat, to thrash
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