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 clean.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | nettoie | I clean | |
| tu | nettoies | you clean | |
| il / elle / on | nettoie | he / she / it cleanson: we clean / one cleans | |
| nous | nettoyons | we clean | |
| vous | nettoyez | you clean | |
| ils / elles | nettoient | they clean |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul nettoie les vitres de la cuisine.
Paul cleans the kitchen windows.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai nettoyé | I cleaned | |
| tu | as nettoyé | you cleaned | |
| il / elle / on | a nettoyé | he / she / it cleanedon: we cleaned / one cleaned | |
| nous | avons nettoyé | we cleaned | |
| vous | avez nettoyé | you cleaned | |
| ils / elles | ont nettoyé | they cleaned |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a nettoyé les vitres de la cuisine.
Yesterday, Paul cleaned the kitchen windows.
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’ | nettoyais | I used to clean | |
| tu | nettoyais | you used to clean | |
| il / elle / on | nettoyait | he / she / it used to cleanon: we used to clean / one used to clean | |
| nous | nettoyions | we used to clean | |
| vous | nettoyiez | you used to clean | |
| ils / elles | nettoyaient | they used to clean |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul nettoyait les vitres de la cuisine.
Back then, Paul used to clean the kitchen windows.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | nettoierai | I will clean | |
| tu | nettoieras | you will clean | |
| il / elle / on | nettoiera | he / she / it will cleanon: we will clean / one will clean | |
| nous | nettoierons | we will clean | |
| vous | nettoierez | you will clean | |
| ils / elles | nettoieront | they will clean |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul nettoiera les vitres de la cuisine.
Later, Paul will clean the kitchen windows.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | nettoierais | I would clean | |
| tu | nettoierais | you would clean | |
| il / elle / on | nettoierait | he / she / it would cleanon: we would clean / one would clean | |
| nous | nettoierions | we would clean | |
| vous | nettoieriez | you would clean | |
| ils / elles | nettoieraient | they would clean |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul nettoierait les vitres de la cuisine.
Paul would clean the kitchen windows.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | nettoie | (that) I clean | |
| tu | nettoies | (that) you clean | |
| il / elle / on | nettoie | (that) he / she / it cleanson: (that) we clean / one cleans | |
| nous | nettoyions | (that) we clean | |
| vous | nettoyiez | (that) you clean | |
| ils / elles | nettoient | (that) they clean |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul nettoie les vitres de la cuisine.
It is possible that Paul cleans the kitchen windows.
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 clean
- to wipe clean
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