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 innovate.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | innove | I innovate | |
| tu | innoves | you innovate | |
| il / elle / on | innove | he / she / it innovateson: we innovate / one innovates | |
| nous | innovons | we innovate | |
| vous | innovez | you innovate | |
| ils / elles | innovent | they innovate |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul innove dans la conception des vélos.
Paul innovates in bicycle design.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai innové | I innovated | |
| tu | as innové | you innovated | |
| il / elle / on | a innové | he / she / it innovatedon: we innovated / one innovated | |
| nous | avons innové | we innovated | |
| vous | avez innové | you innovated | |
| ils / elles | ont innové | they innovated |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a innové dans la conception des vélos.
Yesterday, Paul innovated in bicycle design.
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’ | innovais | I used to innovate | |
| tu | innovais | you used to innovate | |
| il / elle / on | innovait | he / she / it used to innovateon: we used to innovate / one used to innovate | |
| nous | innovions | we used to innovate | |
| vous | innoviez | you used to innovate | |
| ils / elles | innovaient | they used to innovate |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul innovait dans la conception des vélos.
Back then, Paul used to innovate in bicycle design.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | innoverai | I will innovate | |
| tu | innoveras | you will innovate | |
| il / elle / on | innovera | he / she / it will innovateon: we will innovate / one will innovate | |
| nous | innoverons | we will innovate | |
| vous | innoverez | you will innovate | |
| ils / elles | innoveront | they will innovate |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul innovera dans la conception des vélos.
Later, Paul will innovate in bicycle design.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | innoverais | I would innovate | |
| tu | innoverais | you would innovate | |
| il / elle / on | innoverait | he / she / it would innovateon: we would innovate / one would innovate | |
| nous | innoverions | we would innovate | |
| vous | innoveriez | you would innovate | |
| ils / elles | innoveraient | they would innovate |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul innoverait dans la conception des vélos.
Paul would innovate in bicycle design.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | innove | (that) I innovate | |
| tu | innoves | (that) you innovate | |
| il / elle / on | innove | (that) he / she / it innovateson: (that) we innovate / one innovates | |
| nous | innovions | (that) we innovate | |
| vous | innoviez | (that) you innovate | |
| ils / elles | innovent | (that) they innovate |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul innove dans la conception des vélos.
It is possible that Paul innovates in bicycle design.
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 innovate
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