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 urge.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | presse | I urge | |
| tu | presses | you urge | |
| il / elle / on | presse | he / she / it urgeson: we urge / one urges | |
| nous | pressons | we urge | |
| vous | pressez | you urge | |
| ils / elles | pressent | they urge |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul presse son ami de partir.
Paul urges his friend to leave.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai pressé | I urged | |
| tu | as pressé | you urged | |
| il / elle / on | a pressé | he / she / it urgedon: we urged / one urged | |
| nous | avons pressé | we urged | |
| vous | avez pressé | you urged | |
| ils / elles | ont pressé | they urged |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a pressé son ami de partir.
Yesterday, Paul urged his friend to leave.
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’ | pressais | I used to urge | |
| tu | pressais | you used to urge | |
| il / elle / on | pressait | he / she / it used to urgeon: we used to urge / one used to urge | |
| nous | pressions | we used to urge | |
| vous | pressiez | you used to urge | |
| ils / elles | pressaient | they used to urge |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul pressait son ami de partir.
Back then, Paul used to urge his friend to leave.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | presserai | I will urge | |
| tu | presseras | you will urge | |
| il / elle / on | pressera | he / she / it will urgeon: we will urge / one will urge | |
| nous | presserons | we will urge | |
| vous | presserez | you will urge | |
| ils / elles | presseront | they will urge |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul pressera son ami de partir.
Later, Paul will urge his friend to leave.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | presserais | I would urge | |
| tu | presserais | you would urge | |
| il / elle / on | presserait | he / she / it would urgeon: we would urge / one would urge | |
| nous | presserions | we would urge | |
| vous | presseriez | you would urge | |
| ils / elles | presseraient | they would urge |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul presserait son ami de partir.
Paul would urge his friend to leave.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | presse | (that) I urge | |
| tu | presses | (that) you urge | |
| il / elle / on | presse | (that) he / she / it urgeson: (that) we urge / one urges | |
| nous | pressions | (that) we urge | |
| vous | pressiez | (that) you urge | |
| ils / elles | pressent | (that) they urge |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul presse son ami de partir.
It is possible that Paul urges his friend to leave.
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 urge
- to squeeze, to squash
- to hurry, to hurry up
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