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 appoint.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | nomme | I appoint | |
| tu | nommes | you appoint | |
| il / elle / on | nomme | he / she / it appointson: we appoint / one appoints | |
| nous | nommons | we appoint | |
| vous | nommez | you appoint | |
| ils / elles | nomment | they appoint |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Le directeur nomme Paul responsable du projet.
The director appoints Paul as project manager.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai nommé | I appointed | |
| tu | as nommé | you appointed | |
| il / elle / on | a nommé | he / she / it appointedon: we appointed / one appointed | |
| nous | avons nommé | we appointed | |
| vous | avez nommé | you appointed | |
| ils / elles | ont nommé | they appointed |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, le directeur a nommé Paul responsable du projet.
Yesterday, the director appointed Paul as project manager.
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’ | nommais | I used to appoint | |
| tu | nommais | you used to appoint | |
| il / elle / on | nommait | he / she / it used to appointon: we used to appoint / one used to appoint | |
| nous | nommions | we used to appoint | |
| vous | nommiez | you used to appoint | |
| ils / elles | nommaient | they used to appoint |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, le directeur nommait Paul responsable du projet.
Back then, the director used to appoint Paul as project manager.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | nommerai | I will appoint | |
| tu | nommeras | you will appoint | |
| il / elle / on | nommera | he / she / it will appointon: we will appoint / one will appoint | |
| nous | nommerons | we will appoint | |
| vous | nommerez | you will appoint | |
| ils / elles | nommeront | they will appoint |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, le directeur nommera Paul responsable du projet.
Later, the director will appoint Paul as project manager.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | nommerais | I would appoint | |
| tu | nommerais | you would appoint | |
| il / elle / on | nommerait | he / she / it would appointon: we would appoint / one would appoint | |
| nous | nommerions | we would appoint | |
| vous | nommeriez | you would appoint | |
| ils / elles | nommeraient | they would appoint |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Le directeur nommerait Paul responsable du projet.
The director would appoint Paul as project manager.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | nomme | (that) I appoint | |
| tu | nommes | (that) you appoint | |
| il / elle / on | nomme | (that) he / she / it appointson: (that) we appoint / one appoints | |
| nous | nommions | (that) we appoint | |
| vous | nommiez | (that) you appoint | |
| ils / elles | nomment | (that) they appoint |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que le directeur nomme Paul responsable du projet.
It is possible that the director appoints Paul as project manager.
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 name; to appoint
- to nominate
- to name, to call
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