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 handle.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | manipule | I handle | |
| tu | manipules | you handle | |
| il / elle / on | manipule | he / she / it handleson: we handle / one handles | |
| nous | manipulons | we handle | |
| vous | manipulez | you handle | |
| ils / elles | manipulent | they handle |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul manipule les verres fragiles avec précaution.
Paul handles the fragile glasses carefully.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai manipulé | I handled | |
| tu | as manipulé | you handled | |
| il / elle / on | a manipulé | he / she / it handledon: we handled / one handled | |
| nous | avons manipulé | we handled | |
| vous | avez manipulé | you handled | |
| ils / elles | ont manipulé | they handled |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a manipulé les verres fragiles avec précaution.
Yesterday, Paul handled the fragile glasses carefully.
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’ | manipulais | I used to handle | |
| tu | manipulais | you used to handle | |
| il / elle / on | manipulait | he / she / it used to handleon: we used to handle / one used to handle | |
| nous | manipulions | we used to handle | |
| vous | manipuliez | you used to handle | |
| ils / elles | manipulaient | they used to handle |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul manipulait les verres fragiles avec précaution.
Back then, Paul used to handle the fragile glasses carefully.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | manipulerai | I will handle | |
| tu | manipuleras | you will handle | |
| il / elle / on | manipulera | he / she / it will handleon: we will handle / one will handle | |
| nous | manipulerons | we will handle | |
| vous | manipulerez | you will handle | |
| ils / elles | manipuleront | they will handle |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul manipulera les verres fragiles avec précaution.
Later, Paul will handle the fragile glasses carefully.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | manipulerais | I would handle | |
| tu | manipulerais | you would handle | |
| il / elle / on | manipulerait | he / she / it would handleon: we would handle / one would handle | |
| nous | manipulerions | we would handle | |
| vous | manipuleriez | you would handle | |
| ils / elles | manipuleraient | they would handle |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul manipulerait les verres fragiles avec précaution.
Paul would handle the fragile glasses carefully.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | manipule | (that) I handle | |
| tu | manipules | (that) you handle | |
| il / elle / on | manipule | (that) he / she / it handleson: (that) we handle / one handles | |
| nous | manipulions | (that) we handle | |
| vous | manipuliez | (that) you handle | |
| ils / elles | manipulent | (that) they handle |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul manipule les verres fragiles avec précaution.
It is possible that Paul handles the fragile glasses carefully.
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 manipulate
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