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 wet.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | mouille | I wet | |
| tu | mouilles | you wet | |
| il / elle / on | mouille | he / she / it wetson: we wet / one wets | |
| nous | mouillons | we wet | |
| vous | mouillez | you wet | |
| ils / elles | mouillent | they wet |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul mouille le chiffon avant de nettoyer.
Paul wets the cloth before cleaning.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai mouillé | I wet | |
| tu | as mouillé | you wet | |
| il / elle / on | a mouillé | he / she / it weton: we wet / one wet | |
| nous | avons mouillé | we wet | |
| vous | avez mouillé | you wet | |
| ils / elles | ont mouillé | they wet |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a mouillé le chiffon avant de nettoyer.
Yesterday, Paul wet the cloth before cleaning.
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’ | mouillais | I used to wet | |
| tu | mouillais | you used to wet | |
| il / elle / on | mouillait | he / she / it used to weton: we used to wet / one used to wet | |
| nous | mouillions | we used to wet | |
| vous | mouilliez | you used to wet | |
| ils / elles | mouillaient | they used to wet |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul mouillait le chiffon avant de nettoyer.
Back then, Paul used to wet the cloth before cleaning.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | mouillerai | I will wet | |
| tu | mouilleras | you will wet | |
| il / elle / on | mouillera | he / she / it will weton: we will wet / one will wet | |
| nous | mouillerons | we will wet | |
| vous | mouillerez | you will wet | |
| ils / elles | mouilleront | they will wet |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul mouillera le chiffon avant de nettoyer.
Later, Paul will wet the cloth before cleaning.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | mouillerais | I would wet | |
| tu | mouillerais | you would wet | |
| il / elle / on | mouillerait | he / she / it would weton: we would wet / one would wet | |
| nous | mouillerions | we would wet | |
| vous | mouilleriez | you would wet | |
| ils / elles | mouilleraient | they would wet |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul mouillerait le chiffon avant de nettoyer.
Paul would wet the cloth before cleaning.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | mouille | (that) I wet | |
| tu | mouilles | (that) you wet | |
| il / elle / on | mouille | (that) he / she / it wetson: (that) we wet / one wets | |
| nous | mouillions | (that) we wet | |
| vous | mouilliez | (that) you wet | |
| ils / elles | mouillent | (that) they wet |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul mouille le chiffon avant de nettoyer.
It is possible that Paul wets the cloth before cleaning.
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 make wet, get wet, dampen, moisten
- to water (down)
- to cast, drop (anchor)
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