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 perceive.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | perçois | I perceive | |
| tu | perçois | you perceive | |
| il / elle / on | perçoit | he / she / it perceiveson: we perceive / one perceives | |
| nous | percevons | we perceive | |
| vous | percevez | you perceive | |
| ils / elles | perçoivent | they perceive |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul perçoit un léger bruit au loin.
Paul perceives a faint noise in the distance.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai perçu | I perceived | |
| tu | as perçu | you perceived | |
| il / elle / on | a perçu | he / she / it perceivedon: we perceived / one perceived | |
| nous | avons perçu | we perceived | |
| vous | avez perçu | you perceived | |
| ils / elles | ont perçu | they perceived |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a perçu un léger bruit au loin.
Yesterday, Paul perceived a faint noise in the distance.
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’ | percevais | I used to perceive | |
| tu | percevais | you used to perceive | |
| il / elle / on | percevait | he / she / it used to perceiveon: we used to perceive / one used to perceive | |
| nous | percevions | we used to perceive | |
| vous | perceviez | you used to perceive | |
| ils / elles | percevaient | they used to perceive |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul percevait un léger bruit au loin.
Back then, Paul used to perceive a faint noise in the distance.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | percevrai | I will perceive | |
| tu | percevras | you will perceive | |
| il / elle / on | percevra | he / she / it will perceiveon: we will perceive / one will perceive | |
| nous | percevrons | we will perceive | |
| vous | percevrez | you will perceive | |
| ils / elles | percevront | they will perceive |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul percevra un léger bruit au loin.
Later, Paul will perceive a faint noise in the distance.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | percevrais | I would perceive | |
| tu | percevrais | you would perceive | |
| il / elle / on | percevrait | he / she / it would perceiveon: we would perceive / one would perceive | |
| nous | percevrions | we would perceive | |
| vous | percevriez | you would perceive | |
| ils / elles | percevraient | they would perceive |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul percevrait un léger bruit au loin.
Paul would perceive a faint noise in the distance.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | perçoive | (that) I perceive | |
| tu | perçoives | (that) you perceive | |
| il / elle / on | perçoive | (that) he / she / it perceiveson: (that) we perceive / one perceives | |
| nous | percevions | (that) we perceive | |
| vous | perceviez | (that) you perceive | |
| ils / elles | perçoivent | (that) they perceive |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul perçoive un léger bruit au loin.
It is possible that Paul perceives a faint noise in the distance.
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 perceive, to make out
- to perceive (understand)
- to collect (e.g. taxes, transit fares)
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