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 investigate.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | enquête | I investigate | |
| tu | enquêtes | you investigate | |
| il / elle / on | enquête | he / she / it investigateson: we investigate / one investigates | |
| nous | enquêtons | we investigate | |
| vous | enquêtez | you investigate | |
| ils / elles | enquêtent | they investigate |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Le journaliste enquête sur les causes de l'incendie.
The journalist investigates the causes of the fire.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai enquêté | I investigated | |
| tu | as enquêté | you investigated | |
| il / elle / on | a enquêté | he / she / it investigatedon: we investigated / one investigated | |
| nous | avons enquêté | we investigated | |
| vous | avez enquêté | you investigated | |
| ils / elles | ont enquêté | they investigated |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, le journaliste a enquêté sur les causes de l'incendie.
Yesterday, the journalist investigated the causes of the fire.
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’ | enquêtais | I used to investigate | |
| tu | enquêtais | you used to investigate | |
| il / elle / on | enquêtait | he / she / it used to investigateon: we used to investigate / one used to investigate | |
| nous | enquêtions | we used to investigate | |
| vous | enquêtiez | you used to investigate | |
| ils / elles | enquêtaient | they used to investigate |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, le journaliste enquêtait sur les causes de l'incendie.
Back then, the journalist used to investigate the causes of the fire.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | enquêterai | I will investigate | |
| tu | enquêteras | you will investigate | |
| il / elle / on | enquêtera | he / she / it will investigateon: we will investigate / one will investigate | |
| nous | enquêterons | we will investigate | |
| vous | enquêterez | you will investigate | |
| ils / elles | enquêteront | they will investigate |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, le journaliste enquêtera sur les causes de l'incendie.
Later, the journalist will investigate the causes of the fire.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | enquêterais | I would investigate | |
| tu | enquêterais | you would investigate | |
| il / elle / on | enquêterait | he / she / it would investigateon: we would investigate / one would investigate | |
| nous | enquêterions | we would investigate | |
| vous | enquêteriez | you would investigate | |
| ils / elles | enquêteraient | they would investigate |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Le journaliste enquêterait sur les causes de l'incendie.
The journalist would investigate the causes of the fire.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | enquête | (that) I investigate | |
| tu | enquêtes | (that) you investigate | |
| il / elle / on | enquête | (that) he / she / it investigateson: (that) we investigate / one investigates | |
| nous | enquêtions | (that) we investigate | |
| vous | enquêtiez | (that) you investigate | |
| ils / elles | enquêtent | (that) they investigate |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que le journaliste enquête sur les causes de l'incendie.
It is possible that the journalist investigates the causes of the fire.
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 investigate
- to survey
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