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 apply.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | postule | I apply | |
| tu | postules | you apply | |
| il / elle / on | postule | he / she / it applieson: we apply / one applies | |
| nous | postulons | we apply | |
| vous | postulez | you apply | |
| ils / elles | postulent | they apply |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul postule à un poste de comptable.
Paul applies for an accountant's position.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai postulé | I applied | |
| tu | as postulé | you applied | |
| il / elle / on | a postulé | he / she / it appliedon: we applied / one applied | |
| nous | avons postulé | we applied | |
| vous | avez postulé | you applied | |
| ils / elles | ont postulé | they applied |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a postulé à un poste de comptable.
Yesterday, Paul applied for an accountant's position.
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’ | postulais | I used to apply | |
| tu | postulais | you used to apply | |
| il / elle / on | postulait | he / she / it used to applyon: we used to apply / one used to apply | |
| nous | postulions | we used to apply | |
| vous | postuliez | you used to apply | |
| ils / elles | postulaient | they used to apply |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul postulait à un poste de comptable.
Back then, Paul used to apply for an accountant's position.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | postulerai | I will apply | |
| tu | postuleras | you will apply | |
| il / elle / on | postulera | he / she / it will applyon: we will apply / one will apply | |
| nous | postulerons | we will apply | |
| vous | postulerez | you will apply | |
| ils / elles | postuleront | they will apply |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul postulera à un poste de comptable.
Later, Paul will apply for an accountant's position.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | postulerais | I would apply | |
| tu | postulerais | you would apply | |
| il / elle / on | postulerait | he / she / it would applyon: we would apply / one would apply | |
| nous | postulerions | we would apply | |
| vous | postuleriez | you would apply | |
| ils / elles | postuleraient | they would apply |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul postulerait à un poste de comptable.
Paul would apply for an accountant's position.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | postule | (that) I apply | |
| tu | postules | (that) you apply | |
| il / elle / on | postule | (that) he / she / it applieson: (that) we apply / one applies | |
| nous | postulions | (that) we apply | |
| vous | postuliez | (that) you apply | |
| ils / elles | postulent | (that) they apply |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul postule à un poste de comptable.
It is possible that Paul applies for an accountant's position.
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 apply for a position; to postulate
- to postulate (assume as true)
- to posit
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