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 practice.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | exerce | I practice | |
| tu | exerces | you practice | |
| il / elle / on | exerce | he / she / it practiceson: we practice / one practices | |
| nous | exerçons | we practice | |
| vous | exercez | you practice | |
| ils / elles | exercent | they practice |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul exerce comme infirmier.
Paul practices as a nurse.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai exercé | I practiced | |
| tu | as exercé | you practiced | |
| il / elle / on | a exercé | he / she / it practicedon: we practiced / one practiced | |
| nous | avons exercé | we practiced | |
| vous | avez exercé | you practiced | |
| ils / elles | ont exercé | they practiced |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a exercé comme infirmier.
Yesterday, Paul practiced as a nurse.
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’ | exerçais | I used to practice | |
| tu | exerçais | you used to practice | |
| il / elle / on | exerçait | he / she / it used to practiceon: we used to practice / one used to practice | |
| nous | exercions | we used to practice | |
| vous | exerciez | you used to practice | |
| ils / elles | exerçaient | they used to practice |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul exerçait comme infirmier.
Back then, Paul used to practice as a nurse.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | exercerai | I will practice | |
| tu | exerceras | you will practice | |
| il / elle / on | exercera | he / she / it will practiceon: we will practice / one will practice | |
| nous | exercerons | we will practice | |
| vous | exercerez | you will practice | |
| ils / elles | exerceront | they will practice |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul exercera comme infirmier.
Later, Paul will practice as a nurse.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | exercerais | I would practice | |
| tu | exercerais | you would practice | |
| il / elle / on | exercerait | he / she / it would practiceon: we would practice / one would practice | |
| nous | exercerions | we would practice | |
| vous | exerceriez | you would practice | |
| ils / elles | exerceraient | they would practice |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul exercerait comme infirmier.
Paul would practice as a nurse.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | exerce | (that) I practice | |
| tu | exerces | (that) you practice | |
| il / elle / on | exerce | (that) he / she / it practiceson: (that) we practice / one practices | |
| nous | exercions | (that) we practice | |
| vous | exerciez | (that) you practice | |
| ils / elles | exercent | (that) they practice |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul exerce comme infirmier.
It is possible that Paul practices as a nurse.
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 practise; to exercise
- to instruct, to command
- to exercise
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