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 protect.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | protège | I protect | |
| tu | protèges | you protect | |
| il / elle / on | protège | he / she / it protectson: we protect / one protects | |
| nous | protégeons | we protect | |
| vous | protégez | you protect | |
| ils / elles | protègent | they protect |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul protège les plantes du froid.
Paul protects the plants from the cold.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai protégé | I protected | |
| tu | as protégé | you protected | |
| il / elle / on | a protégé | he / she / it protectedon: we protected / one protected | |
| nous | avons protégé | we protected | |
| vous | avez protégé | you protected | |
| ils / elles | ont protégé | they protected |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a protégé les plantes du froid.
Yesterday, Paul protected the plants from the cold.
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’ | protégeais | I used to protect | |
| tu | protégeais | you used to protect | |
| il / elle / on | protégeait | he / she / it used to protecton: we used to protect / one used to protect | |
| nous | protégions | we used to protect | |
| vous | protégiez | you used to protect | |
| ils / elles | protégeaient | they used to protect |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul protégeait les plantes du froid.
Back then, Paul used to protect the plants from the cold.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | protégerai / protègerai | I will protect | |
| tu | protégeras / protègeras | you will protect | |
| il / elle / on | protégera / protègera | he / she / it will protecton: we will protect / one will protect | |
| nous | protégerons / protègerons | we will protect | |
| vous | protégerez / protègerez | you will protect | |
| ils / elles | protégeront / protègeront | they will protect |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul protégera les plantes du froid.
Later, Paul will protect the plants from the cold.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | protégerais / protègerais | I would protect | |
| tu | protégerais / protègerais | you would protect | |
| il / elle / on | protégerait / protègerait | he / she / it would protecton: we would protect / one would protect | |
| nous | protégerions / protègerions | we would protect | |
| vous | protégeriez / protègeriez | you would protect | |
| ils / elles | protégeraient / protègeraient | they would protect |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul protégerait les plantes du froid.
Paul would protect the plants from the cold.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | protège | (that) I protect | |
| tu | protèges | (that) you protect | |
| il / elle / on | protège | (that) he / she / it protectson: (that) we protect / one protects | |
| nous | protégions | (that) we protect | |
| vous | protégiez | (that) you protect | |
| ils / elles | protègent | (that) they protect |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul protège les plantes du froid.
It is possible that Paul protects the plants from the cold.
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 protect
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