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 hide.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | masque | I hide | |
| tu | masques | you hide | |
| il / elle / on | masque | he / she / it hideson: we hide / one hides | |
| nous | masquons | we hide | |
| vous | masquez | you hide | |
| ils / elles | masquent | they hide |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Le rideau masque la fenêtre cassée.
The curtain hides the broken window.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai masqué | I hid | |
| tu | as masqué | you hid | |
| il / elle / on | a masqué | he / she / it hidon: we hid / one hid | |
| nous | avons masqué | we hid | |
| vous | avez masqué | you hid | |
| ils / elles | ont masqué | they hid |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, le rideau a masqué la fenêtre cassée.
Yesterday, the curtain hid the broken window.
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’ | masquais | I used to hide | |
| tu | masquais | you used to hide | |
| il / elle / on | masquait | he / she / it used to hideon: we used to hide / one used to hide | |
| nous | masquions | we used to hide | |
| vous | masquiez | you used to hide | |
| ils / elles | masquaient | they used to hide |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, le rideau masquait la fenêtre cassée.
Back then, the curtain used to hide the broken window.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | masquerai | I will hide | |
| tu | masqueras | you will hide | |
| il / elle / on | masquera | he / she / it will hideon: we will hide / one will hide | |
| nous | masquerons | we will hide | |
| vous | masquerez | you will hide | |
| ils / elles | masqueront | they will hide |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, le rideau masquera la fenêtre cassée.
Later, the curtain will hide the broken window.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | masquerais | I would hide | |
| tu | masquerais | you would hide | |
| il / elle / on | masquerait | he / she / it would hideon: we would hide / one would hide | |
| nous | masquerions | we would hide | |
| vous | masqueriez | you would hide | |
| ils / elles | masqueraient | they would hide |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Le rideau masquerait la fenêtre cassée.
The curtain would hide the broken window.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | masque | (that) I hide | |
| tu | masques | (that) you hide | |
| il / elle / on | masque | (that) he / she / it hideson: (that) we hide / one hides | |
| nous | masquions | (that) we hide | |
| vous | masquiez | (that) you hide | |
| ils / elles | masquent | (that) they hide |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que le rideau masque la fenêtre cassée.
It is possible that the curtain hides the broken window.
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 mask; to hide
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