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’ | pointe | I point | |
| tu | pointes | you point | |
| il / elle / on | pointe | he / she / it pointson: we point / one points | |
| nous | pointons | we point | |
| vous | pointez | you point | |
| ils / elles | pointent | they point |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul pointe du doigt la sortie.
Paul points at the exit.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai pointé | I pointed | |
| tu | as pointé | you pointed | |
| il / elle / on | a pointé | he / she / it pointedon: we pointed / one pointed | |
| nous | avons pointé | we pointed | |
| vous | avez pointé | you pointed | |
| ils / elles | ont pointé | they pointed |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a pointé du doigt la sortie.
Yesterday, Paul pointed at the exit.
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’ | pointais | I used to point | |
| tu | pointais | you used to point | |
| il / elle / on | pointait | he / she / it used to pointon: we used to point / one used to point | |
| nous | pointions | we used to point | |
| vous | pointiez | you used to point | |
| ils / elles | pointaient | they used to point |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul pointait du doigt la sortie.
Back then, Paul used to point at the exit.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | pointerai | I will point | |
| tu | pointeras | you will point | |
| il / elle / on | pointera | he / she / it will pointon: we will point / one will point | |
| nous | pointerons | we will point | |
| vous | pointerez | you will point | |
| ils / elles | pointeront | they will point |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul pointera du doigt la sortie.
Later, Paul will point at the exit.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | pointerais | I would point | |
| tu | pointerais | you would point | |
| il / elle / on | pointerait | he / she / it would pointon: we would point / one would point | |
| nous | pointerions | we would point | |
| vous | pointeriez | you would point | |
| ils / elles | pointeraient | they would point |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul pointerait du doigt la sortie.
Paul would point at the exit.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | pointe | (that) I point | |
| tu | pointes | (that) you point | |
| il / elle / on | pointe | (that) he / she / it pointson: (that) we point / one points | |
| nous | pointions | (that) we point | |
| vous | pointiez | (that) you point | |
| ils / elles | pointent | (that) they point |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul pointe du doigt la sortie.
It is possible that Paul points at the exit.
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 point to/at
- to indicate, to show, to point out
- to clock in, to clock on, to punch in; to clock out, to clock off, to punch out (to enter or leave a workplace by punching a time card)
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