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 deny.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | nie | I deny | |
| tu | nies | you deny | |
| il / elle / on | nie | he / she / it denieson: we deny / one denies | |
| nous | nions | we deny | |
| vous | niez | you deny | |
| ils / elles | nient | they deny |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul nie toute responsabilité dans l'erreur.
Paul denies any responsibility for the mistake.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai nié | I denied | |
| tu | as nié | you denied | |
| il / elle / on | a nié | he / she / it deniedon: we denied / one denied | |
| nous | avons nié | we denied | |
| vous | avez nié | you denied | |
| ils / elles | ont nié | they denied |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a nié toute responsabilité dans l'erreur.
Yesterday, Paul denied any responsibility for the mistake.
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’ | niais | I used to deny | |
| tu | niais | you used to deny | |
| il / elle / on | niait | he / she / it used to denyon: we used to deny / one used to deny | |
| nous | niions | we used to deny | |
| vous | niiez | you used to deny | |
| ils / elles | niaient | they used to deny |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul niait toute responsabilité dans l'erreur.
Back then, Paul used to deny any responsibility for the mistake.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | nierai | I will deny | |
| tu | nieras | you will deny | |
| il / elle / on | niera | he / she / it will denyon: we will deny / one will deny | |
| nous | nierons | we will deny | |
| vous | nierez | you will deny | |
| ils / elles | nieront | they will deny |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul niera toute responsabilité dans l'erreur.
Later, Paul will deny any responsibility for the mistake.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | nierais | I would deny | |
| tu | nierais | you would deny | |
| il / elle / on | nierait | he / she / it would denyon: we would deny / one would deny | |
| nous | nierions | we would deny | |
| vous | nieriez | you would deny | |
| ils / elles | nieraient | they would deny |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul nierait toute responsabilité dans l'erreur.
Paul would deny any responsibility for the mistake.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | nie | (that) I deny | |
| tu | nies | (that) you deny | |
| il / elle / on | nie | (that) he / she / it denieson: (that) we deny / one denies | |
| nous | niions | (that) we deny | |
| vous | niiez | (that) you deny | |
| ils / elles | nient | (that) they deny |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul nie toute responsabilité dans l'erreur.
It is possible that Paul denies any responsibility for the mistake.
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 deny
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