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 link.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | lie | I link | |
| tu | lies | you link | |
| il / elle / on | lie | he / she / it linkson: we link / one links | |
| nous | lions | we link | |
| vous | liez | you link | |
| ils / elles | lient | they link |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul lie ces deux idées.
Paul links these two ideas.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai lié | I linked | |
| tu | as lié | you linked | |
| il / elle / on | a lié | he / she / it linkedon: we linked / one linked | |
| nous | avons lié | we linked | |
| vous | avez lié | you linked | |
| ils / elles | ont lié | they linked |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a lié ces deux idées.
Yesterday, Paul linked these two ideas.
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’ | liais | I used to link | |
| tu | liais | you used to link | |
| il / elle / on | liait | he / she / it used to linkon: we used to link / one used to link | |
| nous | liions | we used to link | |
| vous | liiez | you used to link | |
| ils / elles | liaient | they used to link |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul liait ces deux idées.
Back then, Paul used to link these two ideas.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | lierai | I will link | |
| tu | lieras | you will link | |
| il / elle / on | liera | he / she / it will linkon: we will link / one will link | |
| nous | lierons | we will link | |
| vous | lierez | you will link | |
| ils / elles | lieront | they will link |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul liera ces deux idées.
Later, Paul will link these two ideas.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | lierais | I would link | |
| tu | lierais | you would link | |
| il / elle / on | lierait | he / she / it would linkon: we would link / one would link | |
| nous | lierions | we would link | |
| vous | lieriez | you would link | |
| ils / elles | lieraient | they would link |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul lierait ces deux idées.
Paul would link these two ideas.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | lie | (that) I link | |
| tu | lies | (that) you link | |
| il / elle / on | lie | (that) he / she / it linkson: (that) we link / one links | |
| nous | liions | (that) we link | |
| vous | liiez | (that) you link | |
| ils / elles | lient | (that) they link |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul lie ces deux idées.
It is possible that Paul links these two ideas.
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 link
- to associate
- to thicken
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