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 examine.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | examine | I examine | |
| tu | examines | you examine | |
| il / elle / on | examine | he / she / it examineson: we examine / one examines | |
| nous | examinons | we examine | |
| vous | examinez | you examine | |
| ils / elles | examinent | they examine |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Le médecin examine la cheville du patient.
The doctor examines the patient's ankle.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai examiné | I examined | |
| tu | as examiné | you examined | |
| il / elle / on | a examiné | he / she / it examinedon: we examined / one examined | |
| nous | avons examiné | we examined | |
| vous | avez examiné | you examined | |
| ils / elles | ont examiné | they examined |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, le médecin a examiné la cheville du patient.
Yesterday, the doctor examined the patient's ankle.
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’ | examinais | I used to examine | |
| tu | examinais | you used to examine | |
| il / elle / on | examinait | he / she / it used to examineon: we used to examine / one used to examine | |
| nous | examinions | we used to examine | |
| vous | examiniez | you used to examine | |
| ils / elles | examinaient | they used to examine |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, le médecin examinait la cheville du patient.
Back then, the doctor used to examine the patient's ankle.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | examinerai | I will examine | |
| tu | examineras | you will examine | |
| il / elle / on | examinera | he / she / it will examineon: we will examine / one will examine | |
| nous | examinerons | we will examine | |
| vous | examinerez | you will examine | |
| ils / elles | examineront | they will examine |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, le médecin examinera la cheville du patient.
Later, the doctor will examine the patient's ankle.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | examinerais | I would examine | |
| tu | examinerais | you would examine | |
| il / elle / on | examinerait | he / she / it would examineon: we would examine / one would examine | |
| nous | examinerions | we would examine | |
| vous | examineriez | you would examine | |
| ils / elles | examineraient | they would examine |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Le médecin examinerait la cheville du patient.
The doctor would examine the patient's ankle.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | examine | (that) I examine | |
| tu | examines | (that) you examine | |
| il / elle / on | examine | (that) he / she / it examineson: (that) we examine / one examines | |
| nous | examinions | (that) we examine | |
| vous | examiniez | (that) you examine | |
| ils / elles | examinent | (that) they examine |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que le médecin examine la cheville du patient.
It is possible that the doctor examines the patient's ankle.
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 examine
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