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 hasten.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | précipite | I hasten | |
| tu | précipites | you hasten | |
| il / elle / on | précipite | he / she / it hastenson: we hasten / one hastens | |
| nous | précipitons | we hasten | |
| vous | précipitez | you hasten | |
| ils / elles | précipitent | they hasten |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Le froid précipite le départ des oiseaux.
The cold hastens the birds' departure.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai précipité | I hastened | |
| tu | as précipité | you hastened | |
| il / elle / on | a précipité | he / she / it hastenedon: we hastened / one hastened | |
| nous | avons précipité | we hastened | |
| vous | avez précipité | you hastened | |
| ils / elles | ont précipité | they hastened |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, le froid a précipité le départ des oiseaux.
Yesterday, the cold hastened the birds' departure.
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’ | précipitais | I used to hasten | |
| tu | précipitais | you used to hasten | |
| il / elle / on | précipitait | he / she / it used to hastenon: we used to hasten / one used to hasten | |
| nous | précipitions | we used to hasten | |
| vous | précipitiez | you used to hasten | |
| ils / elles | précipitaient | they used to hasten |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, le froid précipitait le départ des oiseaux.
Back then, the cold used to hasten the birds' departure.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | précipiterai | I will hasten | |
| tu | précipiteras | you will hasten | |
| il / elle / on | précipitera | he / she / it will hastenon: we will hasten / one will hasten | |
| nous | précipiterons | we will hasten | |
| vous | précipiterez | you will hasten | |
| ils / elles | précipiteront | they will hasten |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, le froid précipitera le départ des oiseaux.
Later, the cold will hasten the birds' departure.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | précipiterais | I would hasten | |
| tu | précipiterais | you would hasten | |
| il / elle / on | précipiterait | he / she / it would hastenon: we would hasten / one would hasten | |
| nous | précipiterions | we would hasten | |
| vous | précipiteriez | you would hasten | |
| ils / elles | précipiteraient | they would hasten |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Le froid précipiterait le départ des oiseaux.
The cold would hasten the birds' departure.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | précipite | (that) I hasten | |
| tu | précipites | (that) you hasten | |
| il / elle / on | précipite | (that) he / she / it hastenson: (that) we hasten / one hastens | |
| nous | précipitions | (that) we hasten | |
| vous | précipitiez | (that) you hasten | |
| ils / elles | précipitent | (that) they hasten |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que le froid précipite le départ des oiseaux.
It is possible that the cold hastens the birds' departure.
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 throw down; to hasten
- to throw out, push out, chuck out, throw off, push off, chuck off
- to take down, to bring down
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