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 obey.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | obéis | I obey | |
| tu | obéis | you obey | |
| il / elle / on | obéit | he / she / it obeyson: we obey / one obeys | |
| nous | obéissons | we obey | |
| vous | obéissez | you obey | |
| ils / elles | obéissent | they obey |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul obéit aux consignes de sécurité.
Paul obeys the safety instructions.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai obéi | I obeyed | |
| tu | as obéi | you obeyed | |
| il / elle / on | a obéi | he / she / it obeyedon: we obeyed / one obeyed | |
| nous | avons obéi | we obeyed | |
| vous | avez obéi | you obeyed | |
| ils / elles | ont obéi | they obeyed |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a obéi aux consignes de sécurité.
Yesterday, Paul obeyed the safety instructions.
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’ | obéissais | I used to obey | |
| tu | obéissais | you used to obey | |
| il / elle / on | obéissait | he / she / it used to obeyon: we used to obey / one used to obey | |
| nous | obéissions | we used to obey | |
| vous | obéissiez | you used to obey | |
| ils / elles | obéissaient | they used to obey |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul obéissait aux consignes de sécurité.
Back then, Paul used to obey the safety instructions.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | obéirai | I will obey | |
| tu | obéiras | you will obey | |
| il / elle / on | obéira | he / she / it will obeyon: we will obey / one will obey | |
| nous | obéirons | we will obey | |
| vous | obéirez | you will obey | |
| ils / elles | obéiront | they will obey |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul obéira aux consignes de sécurité.
Later, Paul will obey the safety instructions.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | obéirais | I would obey | |
| tu | obéirais | you would obey | |
| il / elle / on | obéirait | he / she / it would obeyon: we would obey / one would obey | |
| nous | obéirions | we would obey | |
| vous | obéiriez | you would obey | |
| ils / elles | obéiraient | they would obey |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul obéirait aux consignes de sécurité.
Paul would obey the safety instructions.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | obéisse | (that) I obey | |
| tu | obéisses | (that) you obey | |
| il / elle / on | obéisse | (that) he / she / it obeyson: (that) we obey / one obeys | |
| nous | obéissions | (that) we obey | |
| vous | obéissiez | (that) you obey | |
| ils / elles | obéissent | (that) they obey |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul obéisse aux consignes de sécurité.
It is possible that Paul obeys the safety instructions.
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 obey (+ à a person)
- to obey, to follow (+ à a rule or instruction)
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