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 take off.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | enlève | I take off | |
| tu | enlèves | you take off | |
| il / elle / on | enlève | he / she / it takes offon: we take off / one takes off | |
| nous | enlevons | we take off | |
| vous | enlevez | you take off | |
| ils / elles | enlèvent | they take off |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul enlève son manteau.
Paul takes off his coat.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai enlevé | I took off | |
| tu | as enlevé | you took off | |
| il / elle / on | a enlevé | he / she / it took offon: we took off / one took off | |
| nous | avons enlevé | we took off | |
| vous | avez enlevé | you took off | |
| ils / elles | ont enlevé | they took off |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a enlevé son manteau.
Yesterday, Paul took off his coat.
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’ | enlevais | I used to take off | |
| tu | enlevais | you used to take off | |
| il / elle / on | enlevait | he / she / it used to take offon: we used to take off / one used to take off | |
| nous | enlevions | we used to take off | |
| vous | enleviez | you used to take off | |
| ils / elles | enlevaient | they used to take off |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul enlevait son manteau.
Back then, Paul used to take off his coat.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | enlèverai | I will take off | |
| tu | enlèveras | you will take off | |
| il / elle / on | enlèvera | he / she / it will take offon: we will take off / one will take off | |
| nous | enlèverons | we will take off | |
| vous | enlèverez | you will take off | |
| ils / elles | enlèveront | they will take off |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul enlèvera son manteau.
Later, Paul will take off his coat.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | enlèverais | I would take off | |
| tu | enlèverais | you would take off | |
| il / elle / on | enlèverait | he / she / it would take offon: we would take off / one would take off | |
| nous | enlèverions | we would take off | |
| vous | enlèveriez | you would take off | |
| ils / elles | enlèveraient | they would take off |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul enlèverait son manteau.
Paul would take off his coat.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | enlève | (that) I take off | |
| tu | enlèves | (that) you take off | |
| il / elle / on | enlève | (that) he / she / it takes offon: (that) we take off / one takes off | |
| nous | enlevions | (that) we take off | |
| vous | enleviez | (that) you take off | |
| ils / elles | enlèvent | (that) they take off |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul enlève son manteau.
It is possible that Paul takes off his coat.
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 remove, take off, take away, clear
- to take off, remove (clothes)
- to kidnap, abduct
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