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 provoke.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | provoque | I provoke | |
| tu | provoques | you provoke | |
| il / elle / on | provoque | he / she / it provokeson: we provoke / one provokes | |
| nous | provoquons | we provoke | |
| vous | provoquez | you provoke | |
| ils / elles | provoquent | they provoke |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul provoque une réaction dans le public.
Paul provokes a reaction in the audience.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai provoqué | I provoked | |
| tu | as provoqué | you provoked | |
| il / elle / on | a provoqué | he / she / it provokedon: we provoked / one provoked | |
| nous | avons provoqué | we provoked | |
| vous | avez provoqué | you provoked | |
| ils / elles | ont provoqué | they provoked |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a provoqué une réaction dans le public.
Yesterday, Paul provoked a reaction in the audience.
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’ | provoquais | I used to provoke | |
| tu | provoquais | you used to provoke | |
| il / elle / on | provoquait | he / she / it used to provokeon: we used to provoke / one used to provoke | |
| nous | provoquions | we used to provoke | |
| vous | provoquiez | you used to provoke | |
| ils / elles | provoquaient | they used to provoke |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul provoquait une réaction dans le public.
Back then, Paul used to provoke a reaction in the audience.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | provoquerai | I will provoke | |
| tu | provoqueras | you will provoke | |
| il / elle / on | provoquera | he / she / it will provokeon: we will provoke / one will provoke | |
| nous | provoquerons | we will provoke | |
| vous | provoquerez | you will provoke | |
| ils / elles | provoqueront | they will provoke |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul provoquera une réaction dans le public.
Later, Paul will provoke a reaction in the audience.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | provoquerais | I would provoke | |
| tu | provoquerais | you would provoke | |
| il / elle / on | provoquerait | he / she / it would provokeon: we would provoke / one would provoke | |
| nous | provoquerions | we would provoke | |
| vous | provoqueriez | you would provoke | |
| ils / elles | provoqueraient | they would provoke |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul provoquerait une réaction dans le public.
Paul would provoke a reaction in the audience.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | provoque | (that) I provoke | |
| tu | provoques | (that) you provoke | |
| il / elle / on | provoque | (that) he / she / it provokeson: (that) we provoke / one provokes | |
| nous | provoquions | (that) we provoke | |
| vous | provoquiez | (that) you provoke | |
| ils / elles | provoquent | (that) they provoke |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul provoque une réaction dans le public.
It is possible that Paul provokes a reaction in the audience.
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 provoke, bring on, bring about
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