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 pilot.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | pilote | I pilot | |
| tu | pilotes | you pilot | |
| il / elle / on | pilote | he / she / it pilotson: we pilot / one pilots | |
| nous | pilotons | we pilot | |
| vous | pilotez | you pilot | |
| ils / elles | pilotent | they pilot |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul pilote un petit avion.
Paul pilots a small plane.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai piloté | I piloted | |
| tu | as piloté | you piloted | |
| il / elle / on | a piloté | he / she / it pilotedon: we piloted / one piloted | |
| nous | avons piloté | we piloted | |
| vous | avez piloté | you piloted | |
| ils / elles | ont piloté | they piloted |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a piloté un petit avion.
Yesterday, Paul piloted a small plane.
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’ | pilotais | I used to pilot | |
| tu | pilotais | you used to pilot | |
| il / elle / on | pilotait | he / she / it used to piloton: we used to pilot / one used to pilot | |
| nous | pilotions | we used to pilot | |
| vous | pilotiez | you used to pilot | |
| ils / elles | pilotaient | they used to pilot |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul pilotait un petit avion.
Back then, Paul used to pilot a small plane.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | piloterai | I will pilot | |
| tu | piloteras | you will pilot | |
| il / elle / on | pilotera | he / she / it will piloton: we will pilot / one will pilot | |
| nous | piloterons | we will pilot | |
| vous | piloterez | you will pilot | |
| ils / elles | piloteront | they will pilot |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul pilotera un petit avion.
Later, Paul will pilot a small plane.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | piloterais | I would pilot | |
| tu | piloterais | you would pilot | |
| il / elle / on | piloterait | he / she / it would piloton: we would pilot / one would pilot | |
| nous | piloterions | we would pilot | |
| vous | piloteriez | you would pilot | |
| ils / elles | piloteraient | they would pilot |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul piloterait un petit avion.
Paul would pilot a small plane.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | pilote | (that) I pilot | |
| tu | pilotes | (that) you pilot | |
| il / elle / on | pilote | (that) he / she / it pilotson: (that) we pilot / one pilots | |
| nous | pilotions | (that) we pilot | |
| vous | pilotiez | (that) you pilot | |
| ils / elles | pilotent | (that) they pilot |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul pilote un petit avion.
It is possible that Paul pilots a small plane.
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 pilot (control an aircraft)
- to pilot (control a vessel)
- to drive (control a vehicle)
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