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 force open.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | force | I force open | |
| tu | forces | you force open | |
| il / elle / on | force | he / she / it forces openon: we force open / one forces open | |
| nous | forçons | we force open | |
| vous | forcez | you force open | |
| ils / elles | forcent | they force open |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul force la porte bloquée.
Paul forces open the stuck door.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai forcé | I forced open | |
| tu | as forcé | you forced open | |
| il / elle / on | a forcé | he / she / it forced openon: we forced open / one forced open | |
| nous | avons forcé | we forced open | |
| vous | avez forcé | you forced open | |
| ils / elles | ont forcé | they forced open |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a forcé la porte bloquée.
Yesterday, Paul forced open the stuck door.
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’ | forçais | I used to force open | |
| tu | forçais | you used to force open | |
| il / elle / on | forçait | he / she / it used to force openon: we used to force open / one used to force open | |
| nous | forcions | we used to force open | |
| vous | forciez | you used to force open | |
| ils / elles | forçaient | they used to force open |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul forçait la porte bloquée.
Back then, Paul used to force open the stuck door.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | forcerai | I will force open | |
| tu | forceras | you will force open | |
| il / elle / on | forcera | he / she / it will force openon: we will force open / one will force open | |
| nous | forcerons | we will force open | |
| vous | forcerez | you will force open | |
| ils / elles | forceront | they will force open |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul forcera la porte bloquée.
Later, Paul will force open the stuck door.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | forcerais | I would force open | |
| tu | forcerais | you would force open | |
| il / elle / on | forcerait | he / she / it would force openon: we would force open / one would force open | |
| nous | forcerions | we would force open | |
| vous | forceriez | you would force open | |
| ils / elles | forceraient | they would force open |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul forcerait la porte bloquée.
Paul would force open the stuck door.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | force | (that) I force open | |
| tu | forces | (that) you force open | |
| il / elle / on | force | (that) he / she / it forces openon: (that) we force open / one forces open | |
| nous | forcions | (that) we force open | |
| vous | forciez | (that) you force open | |
| ils / elles | forcent | (that) they force open |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul force la porte bloquée.
It is possible that Paul forces open the stuck door.
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 force
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