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 publish.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | publie | I publish | |
| tu | publies | you publish | |
| il / elle / on | publie | he / she / it publisheson: we publish / one publishes | |
| nous | publions | we publish | |
| vous | publiez | you publish | |
| ils / elles | publient | they publish |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul publie un article sur la musique.
Paul publishes an article about music.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai publié | I published | |
| tu | as publié | you published | |
| il / elle / on | a publié | he / she / it publishedon: we published / one published | |
| nous | avons publié | we published | |
| vous | avez publié | you published | |
| ils / elles | ont publié | they published |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a publié un article sur la musique.
Yesterday, Paul published an article about music.
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’ | publiais | I used to publish | |
| tu | publiais | you used to publish | |
| il / elle / on | publiait | he / she / it used to publishon: we used to publish / one used to publish | |
| nous | publiions | we used to publish | |
| vous | publiiez | you used to publish | |
| ils / elles | publiaient | they used to publish |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul publiait un article sur la musique.
Back then, Paul used to publish an article about music.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | publierai | I will publish | |
| tu | publieras | you will publish | |
| il / elle / on | publiera | he / she / it will publishon: we will publish / one will publish | |
| nous | publierons | we will publish | |
| vous | publierez | you will publish | |
| ils / elles | publieront | they will publish |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul publiera un article sur la musique.
Later, Paul will publish an article about music.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | publierais | I would publish | |
| tu | publierais | you would publish | |
| il / elle / on | publierait | he / she / it would publishon: we would publish / one would publish | |
| nous | publierions | we would publish | |
| vous | publieriez | you would publish | |
| ils / elles | publieraient | they would publish |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul publierait un article sur la musique.
Paul would publish an article about music.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | publie | (that) I publish | |
| tu | publies | (that) you publish | |
| il / elle / on | publie | (that) he / she / it publisheson: (that) we publish / one publishes | |
| nous | publiions | (that) we publish | |
| vous | publiiez | (that) you publish | |
| ils / elles | publient | (that) they publish |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul publie un article sur la musique.
It is possible that Paul publishes an article about music.
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 publish, to release, to issue
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