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 push.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | pousse | I push | |
| tu | pousses | you push | |
| il / elle / on | pousse | he / she / it pusheson: we push / one pushes | |
| nous | poussons | we push | |
| vous | poussez | you push | |
| ils / elles | poussent | they push |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul pousse la porte du jardin.
Paul pushes the garden gate.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai poussé | I pushed | |
| tu | as poussé | you pushed | |
| il / elle / on | a poussé | he / she / it pushedon: we pushed / one pushed | |
| nous | avons poussé | we pushed | |
| vous | avez poussé | you pushed | |
| ils / elles | ont poussé | they pushed |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a poussé la porte du jardin.
Yesterday, Paul pushed the garden gate.
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’ | poussais | I used to push | |
| tu | poussais | you used to push | |
| il / elle / on | poussait | he / she / it used to pushon: we used to push / one used to push | |
| nous | poussions | we used to push | |
| vous | poussiez | you used to push | |
| ils / elles | poussaient | they used to push |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul poussait la porte du jardin.
Back then, Paul used to push the garden gate.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | pousserai | I will push | |
| tu | pousseras | you will push | |
| il / elle / on | poussera | he / she / it will pushon: we will push / one will push | |
| nous | pousserons | we will push | |
| vous | pousserez | you will push | |
| ils / elles | pousseront | they will push |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul poussera la porte du jardin.
Later, Paul will push the garden gate.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | pousserais | I would push | |
| tu | pousserais | you would push | |
| il / elle / on | pousserait | he / she / it would pushon: we would push / one would push | |
| nous | pousserions | we would push | |
| vous | pousseriez | you would push | |
| ils / elles | pousseraient | they would push |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul pousserait la porte du jardin.
Paul would push the garden gate.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | pousse | (that) I push | |
| tu | pousses | (that) you push | |
| il / elle / on | pousse | (that) he / she / it pusheson: (that) we push / one pushes | |
| nous | poussions | (that) we push | |
| vous | poussiez | (that) you push | |
| ils / elles | poussent | (that) they push |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul pousse la porte du jardin.
It is possible that Paul pushes the garden gate.
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 push
- to urge on, encourage
- to grow
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