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 excuse.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | excuse | I excuse | |
| tu | excuses | you excuse | |
| il / elle / on | excuse | he / she / it excuseson: we excuse / one excuses | |
| nous | excusons | we excuse | |
| vous | excusez | you excuse | |
| ils / elles | excusent | they excuse |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Le professeur excuse le retard de Paul.
The teacher excuses Paul's lateness.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai excusé | I excused | |
| tu | as excusé | you excused | |
| il / elle / on | a excusé | he / she / it excusedon: we excused / one excused | |
| nous | avons excusé | we excused | |
| vous | avez excusé | you excused | |
| ils / elles | ont excusé | they excused |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, le professeur a excusé le retard de Paul.
Yesterday, the teacher excused Paul's lateness.
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’ | excusais | I used to excuse | |
| tu | excusais | you used to excuse | |
| il / elle / on | excusait | he / she / it used to excuseon: we used to excuse / one used to excuse | |
| nous | excusions | we used to excuse | |
| vous | excusiez | you used to excuse | |
| ils / elles | excusaient | they used to excuse |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, le professeur excusait le retard de Paul.
Back then, the teacher used to excuse Paul's lateness.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | excuserai | I will excuse | |
| tu | excuseras | you will excuse | |
| il / elle / on | excusera | he / she / it will excuseon: we will excuse / one will excuse | |
| nous | excuserons | we will excuse | |
| vous | excuserez | you will excuse | |
| ils / elles | excuseront | they will excuse |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, le professeur excusera le retard de Paul.
Later, the teacher will excuse Paul's lateness.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | excuserais | I would excuse | |
| tu | excuserais | you would excuse | |
| il / elle / on | excuserait | he / she / it would excuseon: we would excuse / one would excuse | |
| nous | excuserions | we would excuse | |
| vous | excuseriez | you would excuse | |
| ils / elles | excuseraient | they would excuse |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Le professeur excuserait le retard de Paul.
The teacher would excuse Paul's lateness.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | excuse | (that) I excuse | |
| tu | excuses | (that) you excuse | |
| il / elle / on | excuse | (that) he / she / it excuseson: (that) we excuse / one excuses | |
| nous | excusions | (that) we excuse | |
| vous | excusiez | (that) you excuse | |
| ils / elles | excusent | (that) they excuse |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que le professeur excuse le retard de Paul.
It is possible that the teacher excuses Paul's lateness.
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 excuse (to forgive, to pardon)
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