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 preserve.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | préserve | I preserve | |
| tu | préserves | you preserve | |
| il / elle / on | préserve | he / she / it preserveson: we preserve / one preserves | |
| nous | préservons | we preserve | |
| vous | préservez | you preserve | |
| ils / elles | préservent | they preserve |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul préserve le calme du jardin.
Paul preserves the peacefulness of the garden.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai préservé | I preserved | |
| tu | as préservé | you preserved | |
| il / elle / on | a préservé | he / she / it preservedon: we preserved / one preserved | |
| nous | avons préservé | we preserved | |
| vous | avez préservé | you preserved | |
| ils / elles | ont préservé | they preserved |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a préservé le calme du jardin.
Yesterday, Paul preserved the peacefulness of the garden.
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’ | préservais | I used to preserve | |
| tu | préservais | you used to preserve | |
| il / elle / on | préservait | he / she / it used to preserveon: we used to preserve / one used to preserve | |
| nous | préservions | we used to preserve | |
| vous | préserviez | you used to preserve | |
| ils / elles | préservaient | they used to preserve |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul préservait le calme du jardin.
Back then, Paul used to preserve the peacefulness of the garden.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | préserverai | I will preserve | |
| tu | préserveras | you will preserve | |
| il / elle / on | préservera | he / she / it will preserveon: we will preserve / one will preserve | |
| nous | préserverons | we will preserve | |
| vous | préserverez | you will preserve | |
| ils / elles | préserveront | they will preserve |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul préservera le calme du jardin.
Later, Paul will preserve the peacefulness of the garden.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | préserverais | I would preserve | |
| tu | préserverais | you would preserve | |
| il / elle / on | préserverait | he / she / it would preserveon: we would preserve / one would preserve | |
| nous | préserverions | we would preserve | |
| vous | préserveriez | you would preserve | |
| ils / elles | préserveraient | they would preserve |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul préserverait le calme du jardin.
Paul would preserve the peacefulness of the garden.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | préserve | (that) I preserve | |
| tu | préserves | (that) you preserve | |
| il / elle / on | préserve | (that) he / she / it preserveson: (that) we preserve / one preserves | |
| nous | préservions | (that) we preserve | |
| vous | préserviez | (that) you preserve | |
| ils / elles | préservent | (that) they preserve |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul préserve le calme du jardin.
It is possible that Paul preserves the peacefulness of the garden.
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 preserve
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