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 free.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | libère | I free | |
| tu | libères | you free | |
| il / elle / on | libère | he / she / it freeson: we free / one frees | |
| nous | libérons | we free | |
| vous | libérez | you free | |
| ils / elles | libèrent | they free |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul libère l'oiseau de sa cage.
Paul frees the bird from its cage.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai libéré | I freed | |
| tu | as libéré | you freed | |
| il / elle / on | a libéré | he / she / it freedon: we freed / one freed | |
| nous | avons libéré | we freed | |
| vous | avez libéré | you freed | |
| ils / elles | ont libéré | they freed |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a libéré l'oiseau de sa cage.
Yesterday, Paul freed the bird from its cage.
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’ | libérais | I used to free | |
| tu | libérais | you used to free | |
| il / elle / on | libérait | he / she / it used to freeon: we used to free / one used to free | |
| nous | libérions | we used to free | |
| vous | libériez | you used to free | |
| ils / elles | libéraient | they used to free |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul libérait l'oiseau de sa cage.
Back then, Paul used to free the bird from its cage.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | libèrerai / libérerai | I will free | |
| tu | libèreras / libéreras | you will free | |
| il / elle / on | libèrera / libérera | he / she / it will freeon: we will free / one will free | |
| nous | libèrerons / libérerons | we will free | |
| vous | libèrerez / libérerez | you will free | |
| ils / elles | libèreront / libéreront | they will free |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul libèrera l'oiseau de sa cage.
Later, Paul will free the bird from its cage.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | libèrerais / libérerais | I would free | |
| tu | libèrerais / libérerais | you would free | |
| il / elle / on | libèrerait / libérerait | he / she / it would freeon: we would free / one would free | |
| nous | libèrerions / libérerions | we would free | |
| vous | libèreriez / libéreriez | you would free | |
| ils / elles | libèreraient / libéreraient | they would free |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul libèrerait l'oiseau de sa cage.
Paul would free the bird from its cage.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | libère | (that) I free | |
| tu | libères | (that) you free | |
| il / elle / on | libère | (that) he / she / it freeson: (that) we free / one frees | |
| nous | libérions | (that) we free | |
| vous | libériez | (that) you free | |
| ils / elles | libèrent | (that) they free |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul libère l'oiseau de sa cage.
It is possible that Paul frees the bird from its cage.
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 liberate, to set free, to release from captivity
- to vacate, to move out of (e.g. a house)
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