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 insert.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | insère | I insert | |
| tu | insères | you insert | |
| il / elle / on | insère | he / she / it insertson: we insert / one inserts | |
| nous | insérons | we insert | |
| vous | insérez | you insert | |
| ils / elles | insèrent | they insert |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul insère sa carte dans le lecteur.
Paul inserts his card into the reader.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai inséré | I inserted | |
| tu | as inséré | you inserted | |
| il / elle / on | a inséré | he / she / it insertedon: we inserted / one inserted | |
| nous | avons inséré | we inserted | |
| vous | avez inséré | you inserted | |
| ils / elles | ont inséré | they inserted |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a inséré sa carte dans le lecteur.
Yesterday, Paul inserted his card into the reader.
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’ | insérais | I used to insert | |
| tu | insérais | you used to insert | |
| il / elle / on | insérait | he / she / it used to inserton: we used to insert / one used to insert | |
| nous | insérions | we used to insert | |
| vous | insériez | you used to insert | |
| ils / elles | inséraient | they used to insert |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul insérait sa carte dans le lecteur.
Back then, Paul used to insert his card into the reader.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | insèrerai / insérerai | I will insert | |
| tu | insèreras / inséreras | you will insert | |
| il / elle / on | insèrera / insérera | he / she / it will inserton: we will insert / one will insert | |
| nous | insèrerons / insérerons | we will insert | |
| vous | insèrerez / insérerez | you will insert | |
| ils / elles | insèreront / inséreront | they will insert |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul insèrera sa carte dans le lecteur.
Later, Paul will insert his card into the reader.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | insèrerais / insérerais | I would insert | |
| tu | insèrerais / insérerais | you would insert | |
| il / elle / on | insèrerait / insérerait | he / she / it would inserton: we would insert / one would insert | |
| nous | insèrerions / insérerions | we would insert | |
| vous | insèreriez / inséreriez | you would insert | |
| ils / elles | insèreraient / inséreraient | they would insert |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul insèrerait sa carte dans le lecteur.
Paul would insert his card into the reader.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | insère | (that) I insert | |
| tu | insères | (that) you insert | |
| il / elle / on | insère | (that) he / she / it insertson: (that) we insert / one inserts | |
| nous | insérions | (that) we insert | |
| vous | insériez | (that) you insert | |
| ils / elles | insèrent | (that) they insert |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul insère sa carte dans le lecteur.
It is possible that Paul inserts his card into the reader.
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 insert
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