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 impose.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | impose | I impose | |
| tu | imposes | you impose | |
| il / elle / on | impose | he / she / it imposeson: we impose / one imposes | |
| nous | imposons | we impose | |
| vous | imposez | you impose | |
| ils / elles | imposent | they impose |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul impose une limite de temps.
Paul imposes a time limit.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai imposé | I imposed | |
| tu | as imposé | you imposed | |
| il / elle / on | a imposé | he / she / it imposedon: we imposed / one imposed | |
| nous | avons imposé | we imposed | |
| vous | avez imposé | you imposed | |
| ils / elles | ont imposé | they imposed |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a imposé une limite de temps.
Yesterday, Paul imposed a time limit.
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’ | imposais | I used to impose | |
| tu | imposais | you used to impose | |
| il / elle / on | imposait | he / she / it used to imposeon: we used to impose / one used to impose | |
| nous | imposions | we used to impose | |
| vous | imposiez | you used to impose | |
| ils / elles | imposaient | they used to impose |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul imposait une limite de temps.
Back then, Paul used to impose a time limit.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | imposerai | I will impose | |
| tu | imposeras | you will impose | |
| il / elle / on | imposera | he / she / it will imposeon: we will impose / one will impose | |
| nous | imposerons | we will impose | |
| vous | imposerez | you will impose | |
| ils / elles | imposeront | they will impose |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul imposera une limite de temps.
Later, Paul will impose a time limit.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | imposerais | I would impose | |
| tu | imposerais | you would impose | |
| il / elle / on | imposerait | he / she / it would imposeon: we would impose / one would impose | |
| nous | imposerions | we would impose | |
| vous | imposeriez | you would impose | |
| ils / elles | imposeraient | they would impose |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul imposerait une limite de temps.
Paul would impose a time limit.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | impose | (that) I impose | |
| tu | imposes | (that) you impose | |
| il / elle / on | impose | (that) he / she / it imposeson: (that) we impose / one imposes | |
| nous | imposions | (that) we impose | |
| vous | imposiez | (that) you impose | |
| ils / elles | imposent | (that) they impose |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul impose une limite de temps.
It is possible that Paul imposes a time limit.
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 impose
- to tax (a person, a product), or to impose (a tax)
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