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 reverse.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | inverse | I reverse | |
| tu | inverses | you reverse | |
| il / elle / on | inverse | he / she / it reverseson: we reverse / one reverses | |
| nous | inversons | we reverse | |
| vous | inversez | you reverse | |
| ils / elles | inversent | they reverse |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul inverse l'ordre des deux étapes.
Paul reverses the order of the two steps.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai inversé | I reversed | |
| tu | as inversé | you reversed | |
| il / elle / on | a inversé | he / she / it reversedon: we reversed / one reversed | |
| nous | avons inversé | we reversed | |
| vous | avez inversé | you reversed | |
| ils / elles | ont inversé | they reversed |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a inversé l'ordre des deux étapes.
Yesterday, Paul reversed the order of the two steps.
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’ | inversais | I used to reverse | |
| tu | inversais | you used to reverse | |
| il / elle / on | inversait | he / she / it used to reverseon: we used to reverse / one used to reverse | |
| nous | inversions | we used to reverse | |
| vous | inversiez | you used to reverse | |
| ils / elles | inversaient | they used to reverse |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul inversait l'ordre des deux étapes.
Back then, Paul used to reverse the order of the two steps.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | inverserai | I will reverse | |
| tu | inverseras | you will reverse | |
| il / elle / on | inversera | he / she / it will reverseon: we will reverse / one will reverse | |
| nous | inverserons | we will reverse | |
| vous | inverserez | you will reverse | |
| ils / elles | inverseront | they will reverse |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul inversera l'ordre des deux étapes.
Later, Paul will reverse the order of the two steps.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | inverserais | I would reverse | |
| tu | inverserais | you would reverse | |
| il / elle / on | inverserait | he / she / it would reverseon: we would reverse / one would reverse | |
| nous | inverserions | we would reverse | |
| vous | inverseriez | you would reverse | |
| ils / elles | inverseraient | they would reverse |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul inverserait l'ordre des deux étapes.
Paul would reverse the order of the two steps.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | inverse | (that) I reverse | |
| tu | inverses | (that) you reverse | |
| il / elle / on | inverse | (that) he / she / it reverseson: (that) we reverse / one reverses | |
| nous | inversions | (that) we reverse | |
| vous | inversiez | (that) you reverse | |
| ils / elles | inversent | (that) they reverse |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul inverse l'ordre des deux étapes.
It is possible that Paul reverses the order of the two steps.
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 invert
- to revert
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