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 dress.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | habille | I dress | |
| tu | habilles | you dress | |
| il / elle / on | habille | he / she / it dresseson: we dress / one dresses | |
| nous | habillons | we dress | |
| vous | habillez | you dress | |
| ils / elles | habillent | they dress |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul habille son fils avant la promenade.
Paul dresses his son before the walk.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai habillé | I dressed | |
| tu | as habillé | you dressed | |
| il / elle / on | a habillé | he / she / it dressedon: we dressed / one dressed | |
| nous | avons habillé | we dressed | |
| vous | avez habillé | you dressed | |
| ils / elles | ont habillé | they dressed |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a habillé son fils avant la promenade.
Yesterday, Paul dressed his son before the walk.
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’ | habillais | I used to dress | |
| tu | habillais | you used to dress | |
| il / elle / on | habillait | he / she / it used to dresson: we used to dress / one used to dress | |
| nous | habillions | we used to dress | |
| vous | habilliez | you used to dress | |
| ils / elles | habillaient | they used to dress |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul habillait son fils avant la promenade.
Back then, Paul used to dress his son before the walk.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | habillerai | I will dress | |
| tu | habilleras | you will dress | |
| il / elle / on | habillera | he / she / it will dresson: we will dress / one will dress | |
| nous | habillerons | we will dress | |
| vous | habillerez | you will dress | |
| ils / elles | habilleront | they will dress |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul habillera son fils avant la promenade.
Later, Paul will dress his son before the walk.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | habillerais | I would dress | |
| tu | habillerais | you would dress | |
| il / elle / on | habillerait | he / she / it would dresson: we would dress / one would dress | |
| nous | habillerions | we would dress | |
| vous | habilleriez | you would dress | |
| ils / elles | habilleraient | they would dress |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul habillerait son fils avant la promenade.
Paul would dress his son before the walk.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | habille | (that) I dress | |
| tu | habilles | (that) you dress | |
| il / elle / on | habille | (that) he / she / it dresseson: (that) we dress / one dresses | |
| nous | habillions | (that) we dress | |
| vous | habilliez | (that) you dress | |
| ils / elles | habillent | (that) they dress |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul habille son fils avant la promenade.
It is possible that Paul dresses his son before the walk.
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 dress
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