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 illustrate.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | illustre | I illustrate | |
| tu | illustres | you illustrate | |
| il / elle / on | illustre | he / she / it illustrateson: we illustrate / one illustrates | |
| nous | illustrons | we illustrate | |
| vous | illustrez | you illustrate | |
| ils / elles | illustrent | they illustrate |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul illustre le livre avec des dessins.
Paul illustrates the book with drawings.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai illustré | I illustrated | |
| tu | as illustré | you illustrated | |
| il / elle / on | a illustré | he / she / it illustratedon: we illustrated / one illustrated | |
| nous | avons illustré | we illustrated | |
| vous | avez illustré | you illustrated | |
| ils / elles | ont illustré | they illustrated |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a illustré le livre avec des dessins.
Yesterday, Paul illustrated the book with drawings.
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’ | illustrais | I used to illustrate | |
| tu | illustrais | you used to illustrate | |
| il / elle / on | illustrait | he / she / it used to illustrateon: we used to illustrate / one used to illustrate | |
| nous | illustrions | we used to illustrate | |
| vous | illustriez | you used to illustrate | |
| ils / elles | illustraient | they used to illustrate |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul illustrait le livre avec des dessins.
Back then, Paul used to illustrate the book with drawings.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | illustrerai | I will illustrate | |
| tu | illustreras | you will illustrate | |
| il / elle / on | illustrera | he / she / it will illustrateon: we will illustrate / one will illustrate | |
| nous | illustrerons | we will illustrate | |
| vous | illustrerez | you will illustrate | |
| ils / elles | illustreront | they will illustrate |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul illustrera le livre avec des dessins.
Later, Paul will illustrate the book with drawings.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | illustrerais | I would illustrate | |
| tu | illustrerais | you would illustrate | |
| il / elle / on | illustrerait | he / she / it would illustrateon: we would illustrate / one would illustrate | |
| nous | illustrerions | we would illustrate | |
| vous | illustreriez | you would illustrate | |
| ils / elles | illustreraient | they would illustrate |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul illustrerait le livre avec des dessins.
Paul would illustrate the book with drawings.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | illustre | (that) I illustrate | |
| tu | illustres | (that) you illustrate | |
| il / elle / on | illustre | (that) he / she / it illustrateson: (that) we illustrate / one illustrates | |
| nous | illustrions | (that) we illustrate | |
| vous | illustriez | (that) you illustrate | |
| ils / elles | illustrent | (that) they illustrate |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul illustre le livre avec des dessins.
It is possible that Paul illustrates the book with drawings.
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 illustrate
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