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 motivate.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | motive | I motivate | |
| tu | motives | you motivate | |
| il / elle / on | motive | he / she / it motivateson: we motivate / one motivates | |
| nous | motivons | we motivate | |
| vous | motivez | you motivate | |
| ils / elles | motivent | they motivate |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul motive son équipe avant le match.
Paul motivates his team before the match.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai motivé | I motivated | |
| tu | as motivé | you motivated | |
| il / elle / on | a motivé | he / she / it motivatedon: we motivated / one motivated | |
| nous | avons motivé | we motivated | |
| vous | avez motivé | you motivated | |
| ils / elles | ont motivé | they motivated |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a motivé son équipe avant le match.
Yesterday, Paul motivated his team before the match.
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’ | motivais | I used to motivate | |
| tu | motivais | you used to motivate | |
| il / elle / on | motivait | he / she / it used to motivateon: we used to motivate / one used to motivate | |
| nous | motivions | we used to motivate | |
| vous | motiviez | you used to motivate | |
| ils / elles | motivaient | they used to motivate |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul motivait son équipe avant le match.
Back then, Paul used to motivate his team before the match.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | motiverai | I will motivate | |
| tu | motiveras | you will motivate | |
| il / elle / on | motivera | he / she / it will motivateon: we will motivate / one will motivate | |
| nous | motiverons | we will motivate | |
| vous | motiverez | you will motivate | |
| ils / elles | motiveront | they will motivate |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul motivera son équipe avant le match.
Later, Paul will motivate his team before the match.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | motiverais | I would motivate | |
| tu | motiverais | you would motivate | |
| il / elle / on | motiverait | he / she / it would motivateon: we would motivate / one would motivate | |
| nous | motiverions | we would motivate | |
| vous | motiveriez | you would motivate | |
| ils / elles | motiveraient | they would motivate |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul motiverait son équipe avant le match.
Paul would motivate his team before the match.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | motive | (that) I motivate | |
| tu | motives | (that) you motivate | |
| il / elle / on | motive | (that) he / she / it motivateson: (that) we motivate / one motivates | |
| nous | motivions | (that) we motivate | |
| vous | motiviez | (that) you motivate | |
| ils / elles | motivent | (that) they motivate |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul motive son équipe avant le match.
It is possible that Paul motivates his team before the match.
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 motivate
- to justify
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