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 appear.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | figure | I appear | |
| tu | figures | you appear | |
| il / elle / on | figure | he / she / it appearson: we appear / one appears | |
| nous | figurons | we appear | |
| vous | figurez | you appear | |
| ils / elles | figurent | they appear |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Le nom de Paul figure sur la liste.
Paul's name appears on the list.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai figuré | I appeared | |
| tu | as figuré | you appeared | |
| il / elle / on | a figuré | he / she / it appearedon: we appeared / one appeared | |
| nous | avons figuré | we appeared | |
| vous | avez figuré | you appeared | |
| ils / elles | ont figuré | they appeared |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, le nom de Paul a figuré sur la liste.
Yesterday, Paul's name appeared on the list.
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’ | figurais | I used to appear | |
| tu | figurais | you used to appear | |
| il / elle / on | figurait | he / she / it used to appearon: we used to appear / one used to appear | |
| nous | figurions | we used to appear | |
| vous | figuriez | you used to appear | |
| ils / elles | figuraient | they used to appear |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, le nom de Paul figurait sur la liste.
Back then, Paul's name used to appear on the list.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | figurerai | I will appear | |
| tu | figureras | you will appear | |
| il / elle / on | figurera | he / she / it will appearon: we will appear / one will appear | |
| nous | figurerons | we will appear | |
| vous | figurerez | you will appear | |
| ils / elles | figureront | they will appear |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, le nom de Paul figurera sur la liste.
Later, Paul's name will appear on the list.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | figurerais | I would appear | |
| tu | figurerais | you would appear | |
| il / elle / on | figurerait | he / she / it would appearon: we would appear / one would appear | |
| nous | figurerions | we would appear | |
| vous | figureriez | you would appear | |
| ils / elles | figureraient | they would appear |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Le nom de Paul figurerait sur la liste.
Paul's name would appear on the list.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | figure | (that) I appear | |
| tu | figures | (that) you appear | |
| il / elle / on | figure | (that) he / she / it appearson: (that) we appear / one appears | |
| nous | figurions | (that) we appear | |
| vous | figuriez | (that) you appear | |
| ils / elles | figurent | (that) they appear |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que le nom de Paul figure sur la liste.
It is possible that Paul's name appears on the list.
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 appear (in a list, etc.), to be included; to represent
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