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 sting.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | pique | I sting | |
| tu | piques | you sting | |
| il / elle / on | pique | he / she / it stingson: we sting / one stings | |
| nous | piquons | we sting | |
| vous | piquez | you sting | |
| ils / elles | piquent | they sting |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Le moustique pique Paul au bras.
The mosquito stings Paul on the arm.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai piqué | I stung | |
| tu | as piqué | you stung | |
| il / elle / on | a piqué | he / she / it stungon: we stung / one stung | |
| nous | avons piqué | we stung | |
| vous | avez piqué | you stung | |
| ils / elles | ont piqué | they stung |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, le moustique a piqué Paul au bras.
Yesterday, the mosquito stung Paul on the arm.
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’ | piquais | I used to sting | |
| tu | piquais | you used to sting | |
| il / elle / on | piquait | he / she / it used to stingon: we used to sting / one used to sting | |
| nous | piquions | we used to sting | |
| vous | piquiez | you used to sting | |
| ils / elles | piquaient | they used to sting |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, le moustique piquait Paul au bras.
Back then, the mosquito used to sting Paul on the arm.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | piquerai | I will sting | |
| tu | piqueras | you will sting | |
| il / elle / on | piquera | he / she / it will stingon: we will sting / one will sting | |
| nous | piquerons | we will sting | |
| vous | piquerez | you will sting | |
| ils / elles | piqueront | they will sting |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, le moustique piquera Paul au bras.
Later, the mosquito will sting Paul on the arm.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | piquerais | I would sting | |
| tu | piquerais | you would sting | |
| il / elle / on | piquerait | he / she / it would stingon: we would sting / one would sting | |
| nous | piquerions | we would sting | |
| vous | piqueriez | you would sting | |
| ils / elles | piqueraient | they would sting |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Le moustique piquerait Paul au bras.
The mosquito would sting Paul on the arm.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | pique | (that) I sting | |
| tu | piques | (that) you sting | |
| il / elle / on | pique | (that) he / she / it stingson: (that) we sting / one stings | |
| nous | piquions | (that) we sting | |
| vous | piquiez | (that) you sting | |
| ils / elles | piquent | (that) they sting |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que le moustique pique Paul au bras.
It is possible that the mosquito stings Paul on the arm.
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 prick; to sting
- to sting
- to put down, euthanise (an animal)
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