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 intervene.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | interviens | I intervene | |
| tu | interviens | you intervene | |
| il / elle / on | intervient | he / she / it interveneson: we intervene / one intervenes | |
| nous | intervenons | we intervene | |
| vous | intervenez | you intervene | |
| ils / elles | interviennent | they intervene |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul intervient pendant la réunion.
Paul intervenes during the meeting.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | suis intervenu / suis intervenue | I intervened | |
| tu | es intervenu / es intervenue | you intervened | |
| il / elle / on | est intervenu / est intervenue | he / she / it intervenedon: we intervened / one intervened | |
| nous | sommes intervenus / sommes intervenues | we intervened | |
| vous | êtes intervenu / êtes intervenue / êtes intervenus / êtes intervenues | you intervened | |
| ils / elles | sont intervenus / sont intervenues | they intervened |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul est intervenu pendant la réunion.
Yesterday, Paul intervened during the meeting.
With être, the participle agrees with the subject: feminine -e, plural -s. The table gives masculine and feminine alternatives; vous may be singular or plural. With on meaning we, plural agreement is also possible.
Back to tense navigation ↑Imperfect Imparfait
Past habits, descriptions, and actions in progress.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | intervenais | I used to intervene | |
| tu | intervenais | you used to intervene | |
| il / elle / on | intervenait | he / she / it used to interveneon: we used to intervene / one used to intervene | |
| nous | intervenions | we used to intervene | |
| vous | interveniez | you used to intervene | |
| ils / elles | intervenaient | they used to intervene |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul intervenait pendant la réunion.
Back then, Paul used to intervene during the meeting.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | interviendrai | I will intervene | |
| tu | interviendras | you will intervene | |
| il / elle / on | interviendra | he / she / it will interveneon: we will intervene / one will intervene | |
| nous | interviendrons | we will intervene | |
| vous | interviendrez | you will intervene | |
| ils / elles | interviendront | they will intervene |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul interviendra pendant la réunion.
Later, Paul will intervene during the meeting.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | interviendrais | I would intervene | |
| tu | interviendrais | you would intervene | |
| il / elle / on | interviendrait | he / she / it would interveneon: we would intervene / one would intervene | |
| nous | interviendrions | we would intervene | |
| vous | interviendriez | you would intervene | |
| ils / elles | interviendraient | they would intervene |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul interviendrait pendant la réunion.
Paul would intervene during the meeting.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | intervienne | (that) I intervene | |
| tu | interviennes | (that) you intervene | |
| il / elle / on | intervienne | (that) he / she / it interveneson: (that) we intervene / one intervenes | |
| nous | intervenions | (that) we intervene | |
| vous | interveniez | (that) you intervene | |
| ils / elles | interviennent | (that) they intervene |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul intervienne pendant la réunion.
It is possible that Paul intervenes during the meeting.
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 intervene
- to take part
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