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 require.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | exige | I require | |
| tu | exiges | you require | |
| il / elle / on | exige | he / she / it requireson: we require / one requires | |
| nous | exigeons | we require | |
| vous | exigez | you require | |
| ils / elles | exigent | they require |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Ce travail exige beaucoup de patience.
This work requires a lot of patience.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai exigé | I required | |
| tu | as exigé | you required | |
| il / elle / on | a exigé | he / she / it requiredon: we required / one required | |
| nous | avons exigé | we required | |
| vous | avez exigé | you required | |
| ils / elles | ont exigé | they required |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, ce travail a exigé beaucoup de patience.
Yesterday, this work required a lot of patience.
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’ | exigeais | I used to require | |
| tu | exigeais | you used to require | |
| il / elle / on | exigeait | he / she / it used to requireon: we used to require / one used to require | |
| nous | exigions | we used to require | |
| vous | exigiez | you used to require | |
| ils / elles | exigeaient | they used to require |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, ce travail exigeait beaucoup de patience.
Back then, this work used to require a lot of patience.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | exigerai | I will require | |
| tu | exigeras | you will require | |
| il / elle / on | exigera | he / she / it will requireon: we will require / one will require | |
| nous | exigerons | we will require | |
| vous | exigerez | you will require | |
| ils / elles | exigeront | they will require |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, ce travail exigera beaucoup de patience.
Later, this work will require a lot of patience.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | exigerais | I would require | |
| tu | exigerais | you would require | |
| il / elle / on | exigerait | he / she / it would requireon: we would require / one would require | |
| nous | exigerions | we would require | |
| vous | exigeriez | you would require | |
| ils / elles | exigeraient | they would require |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Ce travail exigerait beaucoup de patience.
This work would require a lot of patience.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | exige | (that) I require | |
| tu | exiges | (that) you require | |
| il / elle / on | exige | (that) he / she / it requireson: (that) we require / one requires | |
| nous | exigions | (that) we require | |
| vous | exigiez | (that) you require | |
| ils / elles | exigent | (that) they require |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que ce travail exige beaucoup de patience.
It is possible that this work requires a lot of patience.
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 demand, require
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