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 teach.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | enseigne | I teach | |
| tu | enseignes | you teach | |
| il / elle / on | enseigne | he / she / it teacheson: we teach / one teaches | |
| nous | enseignons | we teach | |
| vous | enseignez | you teach | |
| ils / elles | enseignent | they teach |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul enseigne le français dans une école.
Paul teaches French at a school.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai enseigné | I taught | |
| tu | as enseigné | you taught | |
| il / elle / on | a enseigné | he / she / it taughton: we taught / one taught | |
| nous | avons enseigné | we taught | |
| vous | avez enseigné | you taught | |
| ils / elles | ont enseigné | they taught |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a enseigné le français dans une école.
Yesterday, Paul taught French at a school.
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’ | enseignais | I used to teach | |
| tu | enseignais | you used to teach | |
| il / elle / on | enseignait | he / she / it used to teachon: we used to teach / one used to teach | |
| nous | enseignions | we used to teach | |
| vous | enseigniez | you used to teach | |
| ils / elles | enseignaient | they used to teach |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul enseignait le français dans une école.
Back then, Paul used to teach French at a school.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | enseignerai | I will teach | |
| tu | enseigneras | you will teach | |
| il / elle / on | enseignera | he / she / it will teachon: we will teach / one will teach | |
| nous | enseignerons | we will teach | |
| vous | enseignerez | you will teach | |
| ils / elles | enseigneront | they will teach |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul enseignera le français dans une école.
Later, Paul will teach French at a school.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | enseignerais | I would teach | |
| tu | enseignerais | you would teach | |
| il / elle / on | enseignerait | he / she / it would teachon: we would teach / one would teach | |
| nous | enseignerions | we would teach | |
| vous | enseigneriez | you would teach | |
| ils / elles | enseigneraient | they would teach |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul enseignerait le français dans une école.
Paul would teach French at a school.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | enseigne | (that) I teach | |
| tu | enseignes | (that) you teach | |
| il / elle / on | enseigne | (that) he / she / it teacheson: (that) we teach / one teaches | |
| nous | enseignions | (that) we teach | |
| vous | enseigniez | (that) you teach | |
| ils / elles | enseignent | (that) they teach |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul enseigne le français dans une école.
It is possible that Paul teaches French at a school.
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 teach, to instruct, to educate
- to teach
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