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 persuade.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | persuade | I persuade | |
| tu | persuades | you persuade | |
| il / elle / on | persuade | he / she / it persuadeson: we persuade / one persuades | |
| nous | persuadons | we persuade | |
| vous | persuadez | you persuade | |
| ils / elles | persuadent | they persuade |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul persuade son frère de venir.
Paul persuades his brother to come.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai persuadé | I persuaded | |
| tu | as persuadé | you persuaded | |
| il / elle / on | a persuadé | he / she / it persuadedon: we persuaded / one persuaded | |
| nous | avons persuadé | we persuaded | |
| vous | avez persuadé | you persuaded | |
| ils / elles | ont persuadé | they persuaded |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a persuadé son frère de venir.
Yesterday, Paul persuaded his brother to come.
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’ | persuadais | I used to persuade | |
| tu | persuadais | you used to persuade | |
| il / elle / on | persuadait | he / she / it used to persuadeon: we used to persuade / one used to persuade | |
| nous | persuadions | we used to persuade | |
| vous | persuadiez | you used to persuade | |
| ils / elles | persuadaient | they used to persuade |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul persuadait son frère de venir.
Back then, Paul used to persuade his brother to come.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | persuaderai | I will persuade | |
| tu | persuaderas | you will persuade | |
| il / elle / on | persuadera | he / she / it will persuadeon: we will persuade / one will persuade | |
| nous | persuaderons | we will persuade | |
| vous | persuaderez | you will persuade | |
| ils / elles | persuaderont | they will persuade |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul persuadera son frère de venir.
Later, Paul will persuade his brother to come.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | persuaderais | I would persuade | |
| tu | persuaderais | you would persuade | |
| il / elle / on | persuaderait | he / she / it would persuadeon: we would persuade / one would persuade | |
| nous | persuaderions | we would persuade | |
| vous | persuaderiez | you would persuade | |
| ils / elles | persuaderaient | they would persuade |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul persuaderait son frère de venir.
Paul would persuade his brother to come.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | persuade | (that) I persuade | |
| tu | persuades | (that) you persuade | |
| il / elle / on | persuade | (that) he / she / it persuadeson: (that) we persuade / one persuades | |
| nous | persuadions | (that) we persuade | |
| vous | persuadiez | (that) you persuade | |
| ils / elles | persuadent | (that) they persuade |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul persuade son frère de venir.
It is possible that Paul persuades his brother to come.
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 persuade
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