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 inflate.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | gonfle | I inflate | |
| tu | gonfles | you inflate | |
| il / elle / on | gonfle | he / she / it inflateson: we inflate / one inflates | |
| nous | gonflons | we inflate | |
| vous | gonflez | you inflate | |
| ils / elles | gonflent | they inflate |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul gonfle les pneus de son vélo.
Paul inflates his bicycle tires.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai gonflé | I inflated | |
| tu | as gonflé | you inflated | |
| il / elle / on | a gonflé | he / she / it inflatedon: we inflated / one inflated | |
| nous | avons gonflé | we inflated | |
| vous | avez gonflé | you inflated | |
| ils / elles | ont gonflé | they inflated |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a gonflé les pneus de son vélo.
Yesterday, Paul inflated his bicycle tires.
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’ | gonflais | I used to inflate | |
| tu | gonflais | you used to inflate | |
| il / elle / on | gonflait | he / she / it used to inflateon: we used to inflate / one used to inflate | |
| nous | gonflions | we used to inflate | |
| vous | gonfliez | you used to inflate | |
| ils / elles | gonflaient | they used to inflate |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul gonflait les pneus de son vélo.
Back then, Paul used to inflate his bicycle tires.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | gonflerai | I will inflate | |
| tu | gonfleras | you will inflate | |
| il / elle / on | gonflera | he / she / it will inflateon: we will inflate / one will inflate | |
| nous | gonflerons | we will inflate | |
| vous | gonflerez | you will inflate | |
| ils / elles | gonfleront | they will inflate |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul gonflera les pneus de son vélo.
Later, Paul will inflate his bicycle tires.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | gonflerais | I would inflate | |
| tu | gonflerais | you would inflate | |
| il / elle / on | gonflerait | he / she / it would inflateon: we would inflate / one would inflate | |
| nous | gonflerions | we would inflate | |
| vous | gonfleriez | you would inflate | |
| ils / elles | gonfleraient | they would inflate |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul gonflerait les pneus de son vélo.
Paul would inflate his bicycle tires.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | gonfle | (that) I inflate | |
| tu | gonfles | (that) you inflate | |
| il / elle / on | gonfle | (that) he / she / it inflateson: (that) we inflate / one inflates | |
| nous | gonflions | (that) we inflate | |
| vous | gonfliez | (that) you inflate | |
| ils / elles | gonflent | (that) they inflate |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul gonfle les pneus de son vélo.
It is possible that Paul inflates his bicycle tires.
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 inflate, to blow up
- to swell, to puff up
- to get on someone's nerves
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