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 force.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | oblige | I force | |
| tu | obliges | you force | |
| il / elle / on | oblige | he / she / it forceson: we force / one forces | |
| nous | obligeons | we force | |
| vous | obligez | you force | |
| ils / elles | obligent | they force |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
La pluie oblige Paul à rentrer.
The rain forces Paul to go home.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai obligé | I forced | |
| tu | as obligé | you forced | |
| il / elle / on | a obligé | he / she / it forcedon: we forced / one forced | |
| nous | avons obligé | we forced | |
| vous | avez obligé | you forced | |
| ils / elles | ont obligé | they forced |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, la pluie a obligé Paul à rentrer.
Yesterday, the rain forced Paul to go home.
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’ | obligeais | I used to force | |
| tu | obligeais | you used to force | |
| il / elle / on | obligeait | he / she / it used to forceon: we used to force / one used to force | |
| nous | obligions | we used to force | |
| vous | obligiez | you used to force | |
| ils / elles | obligeaient | they used to force |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, la pluie obligeait Paul à rentrer.
Back then, the rain used to force Paul to go home.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | obligerai | I will force | |
| tu | obligeras | you will force | |
| il / elle / on | obligera | he / she / it will forceon: we will force / one will force | |
| nous | obligerons | we will force | |
| vous | obligerez | you will force | |
| ils / elles | obligeront | they will force |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, la pluie obligera Paul à rentrer.
Later, the rain will force Paul to go home.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | obligerais | I would force | |
| tu | obligerais | you would force | |
| il / elle / on | obligerait | he / she / it would forceon: we would force / one would force | |
| nous | obligerions | we would force | |
| vous | obligeriez | you would force | |
| ils / elles | obligeraient | they would force |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
La pluie obligerait Paul à rentrer.
The rain would force Paul to go home.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | oblige | (that) I force | |
| tu | obliges | (that) you force | |
| il / elle / on | oblige | (that) he / she / it forceson: (that) we force / one forces | |
| nous | obligions | (that) we force | |
| vous | obligiez | (that) you force | |
| ils / elles | obligent | (that) they force |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que la pluie oblige Paul à rentrer.
It is possible that the rain forces Paul to go home.
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 oblige, to require, to compel, to force
- (intransitive) to have to
- to help, to aid
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