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 muffle.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | étouffe | I muffle | |
| tu | étouffes | you muffle | |
| il / elle / on | étouffe | he / she / it muffleson: we muffle / one muffles | |
| nous | étouffons | we muffle | |
| vous | étouffez | you muffle | |
| ils / elles | étouffent | they muffle |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Le tapis étouffe le bruit des pas.
The carpet muffles the sound of footsteps.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai étouffé | I muffled | |
| tu | as étouffé | you muffled | |
| il / elle / on | a étouffé | he / she / it muffledon: we muffled / one muffled | |
| nous | avons étouffé | we muffled | |
| vous | avez étouffé | you muffled | |
| ils / elles | ont étouffé | they muffled |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, le tapis a étouffé le bruit des pas.
Yesterday, the carpet muffled the sound of footsteps.
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’ | étouffais | I used to muffle | |
| tu | étouffais | you used to muffle | |
| il / elle / on | étouffait | he / she / it used to muffleon: we used to muffle / one used to muffle | |
| nous | étouffions | we used to muffle | |
| vous | étouffiez | you used to muffle | |
| ils / elles | étouffaient | they used to muffle |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, le tapis étouffait le bruit des pas.
Back then, the carpet used to muffle the sound of footsteps.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | étoufferai | I will muffle | |
| tu | étoufferas | you will muffle | |
| il / elle / on | étouffera | he / she / it will muffleon: we will muffle / one will muffle | |
| nous | étoufferons | we will muffle | |
| vous | étoufferez | you will muffle | |
| ils / elles | étoufferont | they will muffle |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, le tapis étouffera le bruit des pas.
Later, the carpet will muffle the sound of footsteps.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | étoufferais | I would muffle | |
| tu | étoufferais | you would muffle | |
| il / elle / on | étoufferait | he / she / it would muffleon: we would muffle / one would muffle | |
| nous | étoufferions | we would muffle | |
| vous | étoufferiez | you would muffle | |
| ils / elles | étoufferaient | they would muffle |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Le tapis étoufferait le bruit des pas.
The carpet would muffle the sound of footsteps.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | étouffe | (that) I muffle | |
| tu | étouffes | (that) you muffle | |
| il / elle / on | étouffe | (that) he / she / it muffleson: (that) we muffle / one muffles | |
| nous | étouffions | (that) we muffle | |
| vous | étouffiez | (that) you muffle | |
| ils / elles | étouffent | (that) they muffle |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que le tapis étouffe le bruit des pas.
It is possible that the carpet muffles the sound of footsteps.
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 stop, to inhibit, to prevent
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