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 turn off.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | éteins | I turn off | |
| tu | éteins | you turn off | |
| il / elle / on | éteint | he / she / it turns offon: we turn off / one turns off | |
| nous | éteignons | we turn off | |
| vous | éteignez | you turn off | |
| ils / elles | éteignent | they turn off |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul éteint la lumière avant de sortir.
Paul turns off the light before going out.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai éteint | I turned off | |
| tu | as éteint | you turned off | |
| il / elle / on | a éteint | he / she / it turned offon: we turned off / one turned off | |
| nous | avons éteint | we turned off | |
| vous | avez éteint | you turned off | |
| ils / elles | ont éteint | they turned off |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a éteint la lumière avant de sortir.
Yesterday, Paul turned off the light before going out.
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’ | éteignais | I used to turn off | |
| tu | éteignais | you used to turn off | |
| il / elle / on | éteignait | he / she / it used to turn offon: we used to turn off / one used to turn off | |
| nous | éteignions | we used to turn off | |
| vous | éteigniez | you used to turn off | |
| ils / elles | éteignaient | they used to turn off |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul éteignait la lumière avant de sortir.
Back then, Paul used to turn off the light before going out.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | éteindrai | I will turn off | |
| tu | éteindras | you will turn off | |
| il / elle / on | éteindra | he / she / it will turn offon: we will turn off / one will turn off | |
| nous | éteindrons | we will turn off | |
| vous | éteindrez | you will turn off | |
| ils / elles | éteindront | they will turn off |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul éteindra la lumière avant de sortir.
Later, Paul will turn off the light before going out.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | éteindrais | I would turn off | |
| tu | éteindrais | you would turn off | |
| il / elle / on | éteindrait | he / she / it would turn offon: we would turn off / one would turn off | |
| nous | éteindrions | we would turn off | |
| vous | éteindriez | you would turn off | |
| ils / elles | éteindraient | they would turn off |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul éteindrait la lumière avant de sortir.
Paul would turn off the light before going out.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | éteigne | (that) I turn off | |
| tu | éteignes | (that) you turn off | |
| il / elle / on | éteigne | (that) he / she / it turns offon: (that) we turn off / one turns off | |
| nous | éteignions | (that) we turn off | |
| vous | éteigniez | (that) you turn off | |
| ils / elles | éteignent | (that) they turn off |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul éteigne la lumière avant de sortir.
It is possible that Paul turns off the light before going out.
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 turn off (a switch, device, etc.)
- to put out, to extinguish (a fire)
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