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 point.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | oriente | I point | |
| tu | orientes | you point | |
| il / elle / on | oriente | he / she / it pointson: we point / one points | |
| nous | orientons | we point | |
| vous | orientez | you point | |
| ils / elles | orientent | they point |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul oriente la lampe vers le bureau.
Paul points the lamp towards the desk.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai orienté | I pointed | |
| tu | as orienté | you pointed | |
| il / elle / on | a orienté | he / she / it pointedon: we pointed / one pointed | |
| nous | avons orienté | we pointed | |
| vous | avez orienté | you pointed | |
| ils / elles | ont orienté | they pointed |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a orienté la lampe vers le bureau.
Yesterday, Paul pointed the lamp towards the desk.
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’ | orientais | I used to point | |
| tu | orientais | you used to point | |
| il / elle / on | orientait | he / she / it used to pointon: we used to point / one used to point | |
| nous | orientions | we used to point | |
| vous | orientiez | you used to point | |
| ils / elles | orientaient | they used to point |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul orientait la lampe vers le bureau.
Back then, Paul used to point the lamp towards the desk.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | orienterai | I will point | |
| tu | orienteras | you will point | |
| il / elle / on | orientera | he / she / it will pointon: we will point / one will point | |
| nous | orienterons | we will point | |
| vous | orienterez | you will point | |
| ils / elles | orienteront | they will point |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul orientera la lampe vers le bureau.
Later, Paul will point the lamp towards the desk.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | orienterais | I would point | |
| tu | orienterais | you would point | |
| il / elle / on | orienterait | he / she / it would pointon: we would point / one would point | |
| nous | orienterions | we would point | |
| vous | orienteriez | you would point | |
| ils / elles | orienteraient | they would point |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul orienterait la lampe vers le bureau.
Paul would point the lamp towards the desk.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | oriente | (that) I point | |
| tu | orientes | (that) you point | |
| il / elle / on | oriente | (that) he / she / it pointson: (that) we point / one points | |
| nous | orientions | (that) we point | |
| vous | orientiez | (that) you point | |
| ils / elles | orientent | (that) they point |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul oriente la lampe vers le bureau.
It is possible that Paul points the lamp towards the desk.
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 orientate
- to set to north
- to guide
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