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 checkmate.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | mate | I checkmate | |
| tu | mates | you checkmate | |
| il / elle / on | mate | he / she / it checkmateson: we checkmate / one checkmates | |
| nous | matons | we checkmate | |
| vous | matez | you checkmate | |
| ils / elles | matent | they checkmate |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul mate le roi adverse.
Paul checkmates the opposing king.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai maté | I checkmated | |
| tu | as maté | you checkmated | |
| il / elle / on | a maté | he / she / it checkmatedon: we checkmated / one checkmated | |
| nous | avons maté | we checkmated | |
| vous | avez maté | you checkmated | |
| ils / elles | ont maté | they checkmated |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a maté le roi adverse.
Yesterday, Paul checkmated the opposing king.
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’ | matais | I used to checkmate | |
| tu | matais | you used to checkmate | |
| il / elle / on | matait | he / she / it used to checkmateon: we used to checkmate / one used to checkmate | |
| nous | mations | we used to checkmate | |
| vous | matiez | you used to checkmate | |
| ils / elles | mataient | they used to checkmate |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul matait le roi adverse.
Back then, Paul used to checkmate the opposing king.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | materai | I will checkmate | |
| tu | materas | you will checkmate | |
| il / elle / on | matera | he / she / it will checkmateon: we will checkmate / one will checkmate | |
| nous | materons | we will checkmate | |
| vous | materez | you will checkmate | |
| ils / elles | materont | they will checkmate |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul matera le roi adverse.
Later, Paul will checkmate the opposing king.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | materais | I would checkmate | |
| tu | materais | you would checkmate | |
| il / elle / on | materait | he / she / it would checkmateon: we would checkmate / one would checkmate | |
| nous | materions | we would checkmate | |
| vous | materiez | you would checkmate | |
| ils / elles | materaient | they would checkmate |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul materait le roi adverse.
Paul would checkmate the opposing king.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | mate | (that) I checkmate | |
| tu | mates | (that) you checkmate | |
| il / elle / on | mate | (that) he / she / it checkmateson: (that) we checkmate / one checkmates | |
| nous | mations | (that) we checkmate | |
| vous | matiez | (that) you checkmate | |
| ils / elles | matent | (that) they checkmate |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul mate le roi adverse.
It is possible that Paul checkmates the opposing king.
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.”
The example uses the chess meaning checkmate. Other informal meanings are outside this example.
Meaning & usage
- to checkmate
- to suppress, quell (a revolution, person, insurrection)
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