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 brake.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | freine | I brake | |
| tu | freines | you brake | |
| il / elle / on | freine | he / she / it brakeson: we brake / one brakes | |
| nous | freinons | we brake | |
| vous | freinez | you brake | |
| ils / elles | freinent | they brake |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul freine avant le virage.
Paul brakes before the bend.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai freiné | I braked | |
| tu | as freiné | you braked | |
| il / elle / on | a freiné | he / she / it brakedon: we braked / one braked | |
| nous | avons freiné | we braked | |
| vous | avez freiné | you braked | |
| ils / elles | ont freiné | they braked |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a freiné avant le virage.
Yesterday, Paul braked before the bend.
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’ | freinais | I used to brake | |
| tu | freinais | you used to brake | |
| il / elle / on | freinait | he / she / it used to brakeon: we used to brake / one used to brake | |
| nous | freinions | we used to brake | |
| vous | freiniez | you used to brake | |
| ils / elles | freinaient | they used to brake |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul freinait avant le virage.
Back then, Paul used to brake before the bend.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | freinerai | I will brake | |
| tu | freineras | you will brake | |
| il / elle / on | freinera | he / she / it will brakeon: we will brake / one will brake | |
| nous | freinerons | we will brake | |
| vous | freinerez | you will brake | |
| ils / elles | freineront | they will brake |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul freinera avant le virage.
Later, Paul will brake before the bend.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | freinerais | I would brake | |
| tu | freinerais | you would brake | |
| il / elle / on | freinerait | he / she / it would brakeon: we would brake / one would brake | |
| nous | freinerions | we would brake | |
| vous | freineriez | you would brake | |
| ils / elles | freineraient | they would brake |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul freinerait avant le virage.
Paul would brake before the bend.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | freine | (that) I brake | |
| tu | freines | (that) you brake | |
| il / elle / on | freine | (that) he / she / it brakeson: (that) we brake / one brakes | |
| nous | freinions | (that) we brake | |
| vous | freiniez | (that) you brake | |
| ils / elles | freinent | (that) they brake |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul freine avant le virage.
It is possible that Paul brakes before the bend.
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 brake
- to put a stop on, to slow down the progress of
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