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 establish.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | instaure | I establish | |
| tu | instaures | you establish | |
| il / elle / on | instaure | he / she / it establisheson: we establish / one establishes | |
| nous | instaurons | we establish | |
| vous | instaurez | you establish | |
| ils / elles | instaurent | they establish |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul instaure une nouvelle règle.
Paul establishes a new rule.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai instauré | I established | |
| tu | as instauré | you established | |
| il / elle / on | a instauré | he / she / it establishedon: we established / one established | |
| nous | avons instauré | we established | |
| vous | avez instauré | you established | |
| ils / elles | ont instauré | they established |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a instauré une nouvelle règle.
Yesterday, Paul established a new rule.
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’ | instaurais | I used to establish | |
| tu | instaurais | you used to establish | |
| il / elle / on | instaurait | he / she / it used to establishon: we used to establish / one used to establish | |
| nous | instaurions | we used to establish | |
| vous | instauriez | you used to establish | |
| ils / elles | instauraient | they used to establish |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul instaurait une nouvelle règle.
Back then, Paul used to establish a new rule.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | instaurerai | I will establish | |
| tu | instaureras | you will establish | |
| il / elle / on | instaurera | he / she / it will establishon: we will establish / one will establish | |
| nous | instaurerons | we will establish | |
| vous | instaurerez | you will establish | |
| ils / elles | instaureront | they will establish |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul instaurera une nouvelle règle.
Later, Paul will establish a new rule.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | instaurerais | I would establish | |
| tu | instaurerais | you would establish | |
| il / elle / on | instaurerait | he / she / it would establishon: we would establish / one would establish | |
| nous | instaurerions | we would establish | |
| vous | instaureriez | you would establish | |
| ils / elles | instaureraient | they would establish |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul instaurerait une nouvelle règle.
Paul would establish a new rule.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | instaure | (that) I establish | |
| tu | instaures | (that) you establish | |
| il / elle / on | instaure | (that) he / she / it establisheson: (that) we establish / one establishes | |
| nous | instaurions | (that) we establish | |
| vous | instauriez | (that) you establish | |
| ils / elles | instaurent | (that) they establish |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul instaure une nouvelle règle.
It is possible that Paul establishes a new rule.
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 set up; to establish
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