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 tell off.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | engueule | I tell off | |
| tu | engueules | you tell off | |
| il / elle / on | engueule | he / she / it tells offon: we tell off / one tells off | |
| nous | engueulons | we tell off | |
| vous | engueulez | you tell off | |
| ils / elles | engueulent | they tell off |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul engueule son frère pour son retard.
Paul tells off his brother for being late.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai engueulé | I told off | |
| tu | as engueulé | you told off | |
| il / elle / on | a engueulé | he / she / it told offon: we told off / one told off | |
| nous | avons engueulé | we told off | |
| vous | avez engueulé | you told off | |
| ils / elles | ont engueulé | they told off |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a engueulé son frère pour son retard.
Yesterday, Paul told off his brother for being late.
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’ | engueulais | I used to tell off | |
| tu | engueulais | you used to tell off | |
| il / elle / on | engueulait | he / she / it used to tell offon: we used to tell off / one used to tell off | |
| nous | engueulions | we used to tell off | |
| vous | engueuliez | you used to tell off | |
| ils / elles | engueulaient | they used to tell off |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul engueulait son frère pour son retard.
Back then, Paul used to tell off his brother for being late.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | engueulerai | I will tell off | |
| tu | engueuleras | you will tell off | |
| il / elle / on | engueulera | he / she / it will tell offon: we will tell off / one will tell off | |
| nous | engueulerons | we will tell off | |
| vous | engueulerez | you will tell off | |
| ils / elles | engueuleront | they will tell off |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul engueulera son frère pour son retard.
Later, Paul will tell off his brother for being late.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | engueulerais | I would tell off | |
| tu | engueulerais | you would tell off | |
| il / elle / on | engueulerait | he / she / it would tell offon: we would tell off / one would tell off | |
| nous | engueulerions | we would tell off | |
| vous | engueuleriez | you would tell off | |
| ils / elles | engueuleraient | they would tell off |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul engueulerait son frère pour son retard.
Paul would tell off his brother for being late.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | engueule | (that) I tell off | |
| tu | engueules | (that) you tell off | |
| il / elle / on | engueule | (that) he / she / it tells offon: (that) we tell off / one tells off | |
| nous | engueulions | (that) we tell off | |
| vous | engueuliez | (that) you tell off | |
| ils / elles | engueulent | (that) they tell off |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul engueule son frère pour son retard.
It is possible that Paul tells off his brother for being late.
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.”
Engueuler is very informal and means tell someone off harshly.
Meaning & usage
- to give (someone) a roasting, to tell someone off, to chew out, to give shit
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