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 make.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | fabrique | I make | |
| tu | fabriques | you make | |
| il / elle / on | fabrique | he / she / it makeson: we make / one makes | |
| nous | fabriquons | we make | |
| vous | fabriquez | you make | |
| ils / elles | fabriquent | they make |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Le menuisier fabrique une table en bois.
The carpenter makes a wooden table.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai fabriqué | I made | |
| tu | as fabriqué | you made | |
| il / elle / on | a fabriqué | he / she / it madeon: we made / one made | |
| nous | avons fabriqué | we made | |
| vous | avez fabriqué | you made | |
| ils / elles | ont fabriqué | they made |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, le menuisier a fabriqué une table en bois.
Yesterday, the carpenter made a wooden table.
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’ | fabriquais | I used to make | |
| tu | fabriquais | you used to make | |
| il / elle / on | fabriquait | he / she / it used to makeon: we used to make / one used to make | |
| nous | fabriquions | we used to make | |
| vous | fabriquiez | you used to make | |
| ils / elles | fabriquaient | they used to make |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, le menuisier fabriquait une table en bois.
Back then, the carpenter used to make a wooden table.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | fabriquerai | I will make | |
| tu | fabriqueras | you will make | |
| il / elle / on | fabriquera | he / she / it will makeon: we will make / one will make | |
| nous | fabriquerons | we will make | |
| vous | fabriquerez | you will make | |
| ils / elles | fabriqueront | they will make |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, le menuisier fabriquera une table en bois.
Later, the carpenter will make a wooden table.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | fabriquerais | I would make | |
| tu | fabriquerais | you would make | |
| il / elle / on | fabriquerait | he / she / it would makeon: we would make / one would make | |
| nous | fabriquerions | we would make | |
| vous | fabriqueriez | you would make | |
| ils / elles | fabriqueraient | they would make |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Le menuisier fabriquerait une table en bois.
The carpenter would make a wooden table.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | fabrique | (that) I make | |
| tu | fabriques | (that) you make | |
| il / elle / on | fabrique | (that) he / she / it makeson: (that) we make / one makes | |
| nous | fabriquions | (that) we make | |
| vous | fabriquiez | (that) you make | |
| ils / elles | fabriquent | (that) they make |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que le menuisier fabrique une table en bois.
It is possible that the carpenter makes a wooden table.
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 make; to build; to manufacture
- to fabricate
- to be up to
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