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’ | inflige | I impose | |
| tu | infliges | you impose | |
| il / elle / on | inflige | he / she / it imposeson: we impose / one imposes | |
| nous | infligeons | we impose | |
| vous | infligez | you impose | |
| ils / elles | infligent | they impose |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Le juge inflige une amende au conducteur.
The judge imposes a fine on the driver.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai infligé | I imposed | |
| tu | as infligé | you imposed | |
| il / elle / on | a infligé | he / she / it imposedon: we imposed / one imposed | |
| nous | avons infligé | we imposed | |
| vous | avez infligé | you imposed | |
| ils / elles | ont infligé | they imposed |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, le juge a infligé une amende au conducteur.
Yesterday, the judge imposed a fine on the driver.
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’ | infligeais | I used to impose | |
| tu | infligeais | you used to impose | |
| il / elle / on | infligeait | he / she / it used to imposeon: we used to impose / one used to impose | |
| nous | infligions | we used to impose | |
| vous | infligiez | you used to impose | |
| ils / elles | infligeaient | they used to impose |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, le juge infligeait une amende au conducteur.
Back then, the judge used to impose a fine on the driver.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | infligerai | I will impose | |
| tu | infligeras | you will impose | |
| il / elle / on | infligera | he / she / it will imposeon: we will impose / one will impose | |
| nous | infligerons | we will impose | |
| vous | infligerez | you will impose | |
| ils / elles | infligeront | they will impose |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, le juge infligera une amende au conducteur.
Later, the judge will impose a fine on the driver.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | infligerais | I would impose | |
| tu | infligerais | you would impose | |
| il / elle / on | infligerait | he / she / it would imposeon: we would impose / one would impose | |
| nous | infligerions | we would impose | |
| vous | infligeriez | you would impose | |
| ils / elles | infligeraient | they would impose |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Le juge infligerait une amende au conducteur.
The judge would impose a fine on the driver.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | inflige | (that) I impose | |
| tu | infliges | (that) you impose | |
| il / elle / on | inflige | (that) he / she / it imposeson: (that) we impose / one imposes | |
| nous | infligions | (that) we impose | |
| vous | infligiez | (that) you impose | |
| ils / elles | infligent | (that) they impose |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que le juge inflige une amende au conducteur.
It is possible that the judge imposes a fine on the driver.
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 inflict, to impose
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