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 exhibit.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | expose | I exhibit | |
| tu | exposes | you exhibit | |
| il / elle / on | expose | he / she / it exhibitson: we exhibit / one exhibits | |
| nous | exposons | we exhibit | |
| vous | exposez | you exhibit | |
| ils / elles | exposent | they exhibit |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Le musée expose des photographies anciennes.
The museum exhibits old photographs.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai exposé | I exhibited | |
| tu | as exposé | you exhibited | |
| il / elle / on | a exposé | he / she / it exhibitedon: we exhibited / one exhibited | |
| nous | avons exposé | we exhibited | |
| vous | avez exposé | you exhibited | |
| ils / elles | ont exposé | they exhibited |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, le musée a exposé des photographies anciennes.
Yesterday, the museum exhibited old photographs.
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’ | exposais | I used to exhibit | |
| tu | exposais | you used to exhibit | |
| il / elle / on | exposait | he / she / it used to exhibiton: we used to exhibit / one used to exhibit | |
| nous | exposions | we used to exhibit | |
| vous | exposiez | you used to exhibit | |
| ils / elles | exposaient | they used to exhibit |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, le musée exposait des photographies anciennes.
Back then, the museum used to exhibit old photographs.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | exposerai | I will exhibit | |
| tu | exposeras | you will exhibit | |
| il / elle / on | exposera | he / she / it will exhibiton: we will exhibit / one will exhibit | |
| nous | exposerons | we will exhibit | |
| vous | exposerez | you will exhibit | |
| ils / elles | exposeront | they will exhibit |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, le musée exposera des photographies anciennes.
Later, the museum will exhibit old photographs.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | exposerais | I would exhibit | |
| tu | exposerais | you would exhibit | |
| il / elle / on | exposerait | he / she / it would exhibiton: we would exhibit / one would exhibit | |
| nous | exposerions | we would exhibit | |
| vous | exposeriez | you would exhibit | |
| ils / elles | exposeraient | they would exhibit |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Le musée exposerait des photographies anciennes.
The museum would exhibit old photographs.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | expose | (that) I exhibit | |
| tu | exposes | (that) you exhibit | |
| il / elle / on | expose | (that) he / she / it exhibitson: (that) we exhibit / one exhibits | |
| nous | exposions | (that) we exhibit | |
| vous | exposiez | (that) you exhibit | |
| ils / elles | exposent | (that) they exhibit |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que le musée expose des photographies anciennes.
It is possible that the museum exhibits old photographs.
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 expose
- to exhibit
- to explain, make known
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