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 indicate.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | indique | I indicate | |
| tu | indiques | you indicate | |
| il / elle / on | indique | he / she / it indicateson: we indicate / one indicates | |
| nous | indiquons | we indicate | |
| vous | indiquez | you indicate | |
| ils / elles | indiquent | they indicate |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Le panneau indique la direction de la gare.
The sign indicates the direction of the station.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai indiqué | I indicated | |
| tu | as indiqué | you indicated | |
| il / elle / on | a indiqué | he / she / it indicatedon: we indicated / one indicated | |
| nous | avons indiqué | we indicated | |
| vous | avez indiqué | you indicated | |
| ils / elles | ont indiqué | they indicated |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, le panneau a indiqué la direction de la gare.
Yesterday, the sign indicated the direction of the station.
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’ | indiquais | I used to indicate | |
| tu | indiquais | you used to indicate | |
| il / elle / on | indiquait | he / she / it used to indicateon: we used to indicate / one used to indicate | |
| nous | indiquions | we used to indicate | |
| vous | indiquiez | you used to indicate | |
| ils / elles | indiquaient | they used to indicate |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, le panneau indiquait la direction de la gare.
Back then, the sign used to indicate the direction of the station.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | indiquerai | I will indicate | |
| tu | indiqueras | you will indicate | |
| il / elle / on | indiquera | he / she / it will indicateon: we will indicate / one will indicate | |
| nous | indiquerons | we will indicate | |
| vous | indiquerez | you will indicate | |
| ils / elles | indiqueront | they will indicate |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, le panneau indiquera la direction de la gare.
Later, the sign will indicate the direction of the station.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | indiquerais | I would indicate | |
| tu | indiquerais | you would indicate | |
| il / elle / on | indiquerait | he / she / it would indicateon: we would indicate / one would indicate | |
| nous | indiquerions | we would indicate | |
| vous | indiqueriez | you would indicate | |
| ils / elles | indiqueraient | they would indicate |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Le panneau indiquerait la direction de la gare.
The sign would indicate the direction of the station.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | indique | (that) I indicate | |
| tu | indiques | (that) you indicate | |
| il / elle / on | indique | (that) he / she / it indicateson: (that) we indicate / one indicates | |
| nous | indiquions | (that) we indicate | |
| vous | indiquiez | (that) you indicate | |
| ils / elles | indiquent | (that) they indicate |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que le panneau indique la direction de la gare.
It is possible that the sign indicates the direction of the station.
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 indicate; to show
- to connote (to signify beyond principal meaning)
- to show, indicate
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