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 forbid.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | interdis | I forbid | |
| tu | interdis | you forbid | |
| il / elle / on | interdit | he / she / it forbidson: we forbid / one forbids | |
| nous | interdisons | we forbid | |
| vous | interdisez | you forbid | |
| ils / elles | interdisent | they forbid |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul interdit l'accès à la salle.
Paul forbids access to the room.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai interdit | I forbade | |
| tu | as interdit | you forbade | |
| il / elle / on | a interdit | he / she / it forbadeon: we forbade / one forbade | |
| nous | avons interdit | we forbade | |
| vous | avez interdit | you forbade | |
| ils / elles | ont interdit | they forbade |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a interdit l'accès à la salle.
Yesterday, Paul forbade access to the room.
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’ | interdisais | I used to forbid | |
| tu | interdisais | you used to forbid | |
| il / elle / on | interdisait | he / she / it used to forbidon: we used to forbid / one used to forbid | |
| nous | interdisions | we used to forbid | |
| vous | interdisiez | you used to forbid | |
| ils / elles | interdisaient | they used to forbid |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul interdisait l'accès à la salle.
Back then, Paul used to forbid access to the room.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | interdirai | I will forbid | |
| tu | interdiras | you will forbid | |
| il / elle / on | interdira | he / she / it will forbidon: we will forbid / one will forbid | |
| nous | interdirons | we will forbid | |
| vous | interdirez | you will forbid | |
| ils / elles | interdiront | they will forbid |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul interdira l'accès à la salle.
Later, Paul will forbid access to the room.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | interdirais | I would forbid | |
| tu | interdirais | you would forbid | |
| il / elle / on | interdirait | he / she / it would forbidon: we would forbid / one would forbid | |
| nous | interdirions | we would forbid | |
| vous | interdiriez | you would forbid | |
| ils / elles | interdiraient | they would forbid |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul interdirait l'accès à la salle.
Paul would forbid access to the room.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | interdise | (that) I forbid | |
| tu | interdises | (that) you forbid | |
| il / elle / on | interdise | (that) he / she / it forbidson: (that) we forbid / one forbids | |
| nous | interdisions | (that) we forbid | |
| vous | interdisiez | (that) you forbid | |
| ils / elles | interdisent | (that) they forbid |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul interdise l'accès à la salle.
It is possible that Paul forbids access to the room.
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 forbid, ban, prohibit
- to interdict
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