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 commit.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | engage | I commit | |
| tu | engages | you commit | |
| il / elle / on | engage | he / she / it commitson: we commit / one commits | |
| nous | engageons | we commit | |
| vous | engagez | you commit | |
| ils / elles | engagent | they commit |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul engage ses économies dans ce projet.
Paul commits his savings to this project.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai engagé | I committed | |
| tu | as engagé | you committed | |
| il / elle / on | a engagé | he / she / it committedon: we committed / one committed | |
| nous | avons engagé | we committed | |
| vous | avez engagé | you committed | |
| ils / elles | ont engagé | they committed |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a engagé ses économies dans ce projet.
Yesterday, Paul committed his savings to this project.
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’ | engageais | I used to commit | |
| tu | engageais | you used to commit | |
| il / elle / on | engageait | he / she / it used to commiton: we used to commit / one used to commit | |
| nous | engagions | we used to commit | |
| vous | engagiez | you used to commit | |
| ils / elles | engageaient | they used to commit |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul engageait ses économies dans ce projet.
Back then, Paul used to commit his savings to this project.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | engagerai | I will commit | |
| tu | engageras | you will commit | |
| il / elle / on | engagera | he / she / it will commiton: we will commit / one will commit | |
| nous | engagerons | we will commit | |
| vous | engagerez | you will commit | |
| ils / elles | engageront | they will commit |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul engagera ses économies dans ce projet.
Later, Paul will commit his savings to this project.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | engagerais | I would commit | |
| tu | engagerais | you would commit | |
| il / elle / on | engagerait | he / she / it would commiton: we would commit / one would commit | |
| nous | engagerions | we would commit | |
| vous | engageriez | you would commit | |
| ils / elles | engageraient | they would commit |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul engagerait ses économies dans ce projet.
Paul would commit his savings to this project.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | engage | (that) I commit | |
| tu | engages | (that) you commit | |
| il / elle / on | engage | (that) he / she / it commitson: (that) we commit / one commits | |
| nous | engagions | (that) we commit | |
| vous | engagiez | (that) you commit | |
| ils / elles | engagent | (that) they commit |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul engage ses économies dans ce projet.
It is possible that Paul commits his savings to this project.
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 pledge, commit
- to hire, sign, snap up
- to involve
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