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 imitate.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | imite | I imitate | |
| tu | imites | you imitate | |
| il / elle / on | imite | he / she / it imitateson: we imitate / one imitates | |
| nous | imitons | we imitate | |
| vous | imitez | you imitate | |
| ils / elles | imitent | they imitate |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul imite le cri du hibou.
Paul imitates the owl's call.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai imité | I imitated | |
| tu | as imité | you imitated | |
| il / elle / on | a imité | he / she / it imitatedon: we imitated / one imitated | |
| nous | avons imité | we imitated | |
| vous | avez imité | you imitated | |
| ils / elles | ont imité | they imitated |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a imité le cri du hibou.
Yesterday, Paul imitated the owl's call.
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’ | imitais | I used to imitate | |
| tu | imitais | you used to imitate | |
| il / elle / on | imitait | he / she / it used to imitateon: we used to imitate / one used to imitate | |
| nous | imitions | we used to imitate | |
| vous | imitiez | you used to imitate | |
| ils / elles | imitaient | they used to imitate |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul imitait le cri du hibou.
Back then, Paul used to imitate the owl's call.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | imiterai | I will imitate | |
| tu | imiteras | you will imitate | |
| il / elle / on | imitera | he / she / it will imitateon: we will imitate / one will imitate | |
| nous | imiterons | we will imitate | |
| vous | imiterez | you will imitate | |
| ils / elles | imiteront | they will imitate |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul imitera le cri du hibou.
Later, Paul will imitate the owl's call.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | imiterais | I would imitate | |
| tu | imiterais | you would imitate | |
| il / elle / on | imiterait | he / she / it would imitateon: we would imitate / one would imitate | |
| nous | imiterions | we would imitate | |
| vous | imiteriez | you would imitate | |
| ils / elles | imiteraient | they would imitate |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul imiterait le cri du hibou.
Paul would imitate the owl's call.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | imite | (that) I imitate | |
| tu | imites | (that) you imitate | |
| il / elle / on | imite | (that) he / she / it imitateson: (that) we imitate / one imitates | |
| nous | imitions | (that) we imitate | |
| vous | imitiez | (that) you imitate | |
| ils / elles | imitent | (that) they imitate |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul imite le cri du hibou.
It is possible that Paul imitates the owl's call.
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 imitate
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