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 occupy.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | occupe | I occupy | |
| tu | occupes | you occupy | |
| il / elle / on | occupe | he / she / it occupieson: we occupy / one occupies | |
| nous | occupons | we occupy | |
| vous | occupez | you occupy | |
| ils / elles | occupent | they occupy |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul occupe la chambre du fond.
Paul occupies the room at the back.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai occupé | I occupied | |
| tu | as occupé | you occupied | |
| il / elle / on | a occupé | he / she / it occupiedon: we occupied / one occupied | |
| nous | avons occupé | we occupied | |
| vous | avez occupé | you occupied | |
| ils / elles | ont occupé | they occupied |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a occupé la chambre du fond.
Yesterday, Paul occupied the room at the back.
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’ | occupais | I used to occupy | |
| tu | occupais | you used to occupy | |
| il / elle / on | occupait | he / she / it used to occupyon: we used to occupy / one used to occupy | |
| nous | occupions | we used to occupy | |
| vous | occupiez | you used to occupy | |
| ils / elles | occupaient | they used to occupy |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul occupait la chambre du fond.
Back then, Paul used to occupy the room at the back.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | occuperai | I will occupy | |
| tu | occuperas | you will occupy | |
| il / elle / on | occupera | he / she / it will occupyon: we will occupy / one will occupy | |
| nous | occuperons | we will occupy | |
| vous | occuperez | you will occupy | |
| ils / elles | occuperont | they will occupy |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul occupera la chambre du fond.
Later, Paul will occupy the room at the back.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | occuperais | I would occupy | |
| tu | occuperais | you would occupy | |
| il / elle / on | occuperait | he / she / it would occupyon: we would occupy / one would occupy | |
| nous | occuperions | we would occupy | |
| vous | occuperiez | you would occupy | |
| ils / elles | occuperaient | they would occupy |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul occuperait la chambre du fond.
Paul would occupy the room at the back.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | occupe | (that) I occupy | |
| tu | occupes | (that) you occupy | |
| il / elle / on | occupe | (that) he / she / it occupieson: (that) we occupy / one occupies | |
| nous | occupions | (that) we occupy | |
| vous | occupiez | (that) you occupy | |
| ils / elles | occupent | (that) they occupy |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul occupe la chambre du fond.
It is possible that Paul occupies the room at the back.
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 occupy, to take up
- to employ
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