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 generate.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | génère | I generate | |
| tu | génères | you generate | |
| il / elle / on | génère | he / she / it generateson: we generate / one generates | |
| nous | générons | we generate | |
| vous | générez | you generate | |
| ils / elles | génèrent | they generate |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Ce panneau solaire génère de l'électricité.
This solar panel generates electricity.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai généré | I generated | |
| tu | as généré | you generated | |
| il / elle / on | a généré | he / she / it generatedon: we generated / one generated | |
| nous | avons généré | we generated | |
| vous | avez généré | you generated | |
| ils / elles | ont généré | they generated |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, ce panneau solaire a généré de l'électricité.
Yesterday, this solar panel generated electricity.
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’ | générais | I used to generate | |
| tu | générais | you used to generate | |
| il / elle / on | générait | he / she / it used to generateon: we used to generate / one used to generate | |
| nous | générions | we used to generate | |
| vous | génériez | you used to generate | |
| ils / elles | généraient | they used to generate |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, ce panneau solaire générait de l'électricité.
Back then, this solar panel used to generate electricity.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | génèrerai / générerai | I will generate | |
| tu | génèreras / généreras | you will generate | |
| il / elle / on | génèrera / générera | he / she / it will generateon: we will generate / one will generate | |
| nous | génèrerons / générerons | we will generate | |
| vous | génèrerez / générerez | you will generate | |
| ils / elles | génèreront / généreront | they will generate |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, ce panneau solaire génèrera de l'électricité.
Later, this solar panel will generate electricity.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | génèrerais / générerais | I would generate | |
| tu | génèrerais / générerais | you would generate | |
| il / elle / on | génèrerait / générerait | he / she / it would generateon: we would generate / one would generate | |
| nous | génèrerions / générerions | we would generate | |
| vous | génèreriez / généreriez | you would generate | |
| ils / elles | génèreraient / généreraient | they would generate |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Ce panneau solaire génèrerait de l'électricité.
This solar panel would generate electricity.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | génère | (that) I generate | |
| tu | génères | (that) you generate | |
| il / elle / on | génère | (that) he / she / it generateson: (that) we generate / one generates | |
| nous | générions | (that) we generate | |
| vous | génériez | (that) you generate | |
| ils / elles | génèrent | (that) they generate |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que ce panneau solaire génère de l'électricité.
It is possible that this solar panel generates electricity.
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 generate
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