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 scrape.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | gratte | I scrape | |
| tu | grattes | you scrape | |
| il / elle / on | gratte | he / she / it scrapeson: we scrape / one scrapes | |
| nous | grattons | we scrape | |
| vous | grattez | you scrape | |
| ils / elles | grattent | they scrape |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul gratte le fond de la casserole.
Paul scrapes the bottom of the saucepan.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai gratté | I scraped | |
| tu | as gratté | you scraped | |
| il / elle / on | a gratté | he / she / it scrapedon: we scraped / one scraped | |
| nous | avons gratté | we scraped | |
| vous | avez gratté | you scraped | |
| ils / elles | ont gratté | they scraped |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a gratté le fond de la casserole.
Yesterday, Paul scraped the bottom of the saucepan.
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’ | grattais | I used to scrape | |
| tu | grattais | you used to scrape | |
| il / elle / on | grattait | he / she / it used to scrapeon: we used to scrape / one used to scrape | |
| nous | grattions | we used to scrape | |
| vous | grattiez | you used to scrape | |
| ils / elles | grattaient | they used to scrape |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul grattait le fond de la casserole.
Back then, Paul used to scrape the bottom of the saucepan.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | gratterai | I will scrape | |
| tu | gratteras | you will scrape | |
| il / elle / on | grattera | he / she / it will scrapeon: we will scrape / one will scrape | |
| nous | gratterons | we will scrape | |
| vous | gratterez | you will scrape | |
| ils / elles | gratteront | they will scrape |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul grattera le fond de la casserole.
Later, Paul will scrape the bottom of the saucepan.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | gratterais | I would scrape | |
| tu | gratterais | you would scrape | |
| il / elle / on | gratterait | he / she / it would scrapeon: we would scrape / one would scrape | |
| nous | gratterions | we would scrape | |
| vous | gratteriez | you would scrape | |
| ils / elles | gratteraient | they would scrape |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul gratterait le fond de la casserole.
Paul would scrape the bottom of the saucepan.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | gratte | (that) I scrape | |
| tu | grattes | (that) you scrape | |
| il / elle / on | gratte | (that) he / she / it scrapeson: (that) we scrape / one scrapes | |
| nous | grattions | (that) we scrape | |
| vous | grattiez | (that) you scrape | |
| ils / elles | grattent | (that) they scrape |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul gratte le fond de la casserole.
It is possible that Paul scrapes the bottom of the saucepan.
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 scrub
- to scrape
- to scratch
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