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 avoid.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | évite | I avoid | |
| tu | évites | you avoid | |
| il / elle / on | évite | he / she / it avoidson: we avoid / one avoids | |
| nous | évitons | we avoid | |
| vous | évitez | you avoid | |
| ils / elles | évitent | they avoid |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul évite les rues bruyantes.
Paul avoids noisy streets.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai évité | I avoided | |
| tu | as évité | you avoided | |
| il / elle / on | a évité | he / she / it avoidedon: we avoided / one avoided | |
| nous | avons évité | we avoided | |
| vous | avez évité | you avoided | |
| ils / elles | ont évité | they avoided |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a évité les rues bruyantes.
Yesterday, Paul avoided noisy streets.
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’ | évitais | I used to avoid | |
| tu | évitais | you used to avoid | |
| il / elle / on | évitait | he / she / it used to avoidon: we used to avoid / one used to avoid | |
| nous | évitions | we used to avoid | |
| vous | évitiez | you used to avoid | |
| ils / elles | évitaient | they used to avoid |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul évitait les rues bruyantes.
Back then, Paul used to avoid noisy streets.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | éviterai | I will avoid | |
| tu | éviteras | you will avoid | |
| il / elle / on | évitera | he / she / it will avoidon: we will avoid / one will avoid | |
| nous | éviterons | we will avoid | |
| vous | éviterez | you will avoid | |
| ils / elles | éviteront | they will avoid |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul évitera les rues bruyantes.
Later, Paul will avoid noisy streets.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | éviterais | I would avoid | |
| tu | éviterais | you would avoid | |
| il / elle / on | éviterait | he / she / it would avoidon: we would avoid / one would avoid | |
| nous | éviterions | we would avoid | |
| vous | éviteriez | you would avoid | |
| ils / elles | éviteraient | they would avoid |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul éviterait les rues bruyantes.
Paul would avoid noisy streets.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | évite | (that) I avoid | |
| tu | évites | (that) you avoid | |
| il / elle / on | évite | (that) he / she / it avoidson: (that) we avoid / one avoids | |
| nous | évitions | (that) we avoid | |
| vous | évitiez | (that) you avoid | |
| ils / elles | évitent | (that) they avoid |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul évite les rues bruyantes.
It is possible that Paul avoids noisy streets.
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 avoid
- to dodge, to shun, to bypass
- to avert
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