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 insulate.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | isole | I insulate | |
| tu | isoles | you insulate | |
| il / elle / on | isole | he / she / it insulateson: we insulate / one insulates | |
| nous | isolons | we insulate | |
| vous | isolez | you insulate | |
| ils / elles | isolent | they insulate |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul isole les murs contre le froid.
Paul insulates the walls against the cold.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai isolé | I insulated | |
| tu | as isolé | you insulated | |
| il / elle / on | a isolé | he / she / it insulatedon: we insulated / one insulated | |
| nous | avons isolé | we insulated | |
| vous | avez isolé | you insulated | |
| ils / elles | ont isolé | they insulated |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a isolé les murs contre le froid.
Yesterday, Paul insulated the walls against the cold.
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’ | isolais | I used to insulate | |
| tu | isolais | you used to insulate | |
| il / elle / on | isolait | he / she / it used to insulateon: we used to insulate / one used to insulate | |
| nous | isolions | we used to insulate | |
| vous | isoliez | you used to insulate | |
| ils / elles | isolaient | they used to insulate |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul isolait les murs contre le froid.
Back then, Paul used to insulate the walls against the cold.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | isolerai | I will insulate | |
| tu | isoleras | you will insulate | |
| il / elle / on | isolera | he / she / it will insulateon: we will insulate / one will insulate | |
| nous | isolerons | we will insulate | |
| vous | isolerez | you will insulate | |
| ils / elles | isoleront | they will insulate |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul isolera les murs contre le froid.
Later, Paul will insulate the walls against the cold.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | isolerais | I would insulate | |
| tu | isolerais | you would insulate | |
| il / elle / on | isolerait | he / she / it would insulateon: we would insulate / one would insulate | |
| nous | isolerions | we would insulate | |
| vous | isoleriez | you would insulate | |
| ils / elles | isoleraient | they would insulate |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul isolerait les murs contre le froid.
Paul would insulate the walls against the cold.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | isole | (that) I insulate | |
| tu | isoles | (that) you insulate | |
| il / elle / on | isole | (that) he / she / it insulateson: (that) we insulate / one insulates | |
| nous | isolions | (that) we insulate | |
| vous | isoliez | (that) you insulate | |
| ils / elles | isolent | (that) they insulate |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul isole les murs contre le froid.
It is possible that Paul insulates the walls against the cold.
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 isolate
- to insulate
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