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 explore.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | explore | I explore | |
| tu | explores | you explore | |
| il / elle / on | explore | he / she / it exploreson: we explore / one explores | |
| nous | explorons | we explore | |
| vous | explorez | you explore | |
| ils / elles | explorent | they explore |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul explore les rues du vieux quartier.
Paul explores the streets of the old district.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai exploré | I explored | |
| tu | as exploré | you explored | |
| il / elle / on | a exploré | he / she / it exploredon: we explored / one explored | |
| nous | avons exploré | we explored | |
| vous | avez exploré | you explored | |
| ils / elles | ont exploré | they explored |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a exploré les rues du vieux quartier.
Yesterday, Paul explored the streets of the old district.
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’ | explorais | I used to explore | |
| tu | explorais | you used to explore | |
| il / elle / on | explorait | he / she / it used to exploreon: we used to explore / one used to explore | |
| nous | explorions | we used to explore | |
| vous | exploriez | you used to explore | |
| ils / elles | exploraient | they used to explore |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul explorait les rues du vieux quartier.
Back then, Paul used to explore the streets of the old district.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | explorerai | I will explore | |
| tu | exploreras | you will explore | |
| il / elle / on | explorera | he / she / it will exploreon: we will explore / one will explore | |
| nous | explorerons | we will explore | |
| vous | explorerez | you will explore | |
| ils / elles | exploreront | they will explore |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul explorera les rues du vieux quartier.
Later, Paul will explore the streets of the old district.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | explorerais | I would explore | |
| tu | explorerais | you would explore | |
| il / elle / on | explorerait | he / she / it would exploreon: we would explore / one would explore | |
| nous | explorerions | we would explore | |
| vous | exploreriez | you would explore | |
| ils / elles | exploreraient | they would explore |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul explorerait les rues du vieux quartier.
Paul would explore the streets of the old district.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | explore | (that) I explore | |
| tu | explores | (that) you explore | |
| il / elle / on | explore | (that) he / she / it exploreson: (that) we explore / one explores | |
| nous | explorions | (that) we explore | |
| vous | exploriez | (that) you explore | |
| ils / elles | explorent | (that) they explore |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul explore les rues du vieux quartier.
It is possible that Paul explores the streets of the old district.
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 explore
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