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 buy back.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | rachète | I buy back | |
| tu | rachètes | you buy back | |
| il / elle / on | rachète | he / she / it buys backon: we buy back / one buys back | |
| nous | rachetons | we buy back | |
| vous | rachetez | you buy back | |
| ils / elles | rachètent | they buy back |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul rachète la maison de son enfance.
Paul buys back his childhood home.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai racheté | I bought back | |
| tu | as racheté | you bought back | |
| il / elle / on | a racheté | he / she / it bought backon: we bought back / one bought back | |
| nous | avons racheté | we bought back | |
| vous | avez racheté | you bought back | |
| ils / elles | ont racheté | they bought back |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a racheté la maison de son enfance.
Yesterday, Paul bought back his childhood home.
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’ | rachetais | I used to buy back | |
| tu | rachetais | you used to buy back | |
| il / elle / on | rachetait | he / she / it used to buy backon: we used to buy back / one used to buy back | |
| nous | rachetions | we used to buy back | |
| vous | rachetiez | you used to buy back | |
| ils / elles | rachetaient | they used to buy back |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul rachetait la maison de son enfance.
Back then, Paul used to buy back his childhood home.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | rachèterai | I will buy back | |
| tu | rachèteras | you will buy back | |
| il / elle / on | rachètera | he / she / it will buy backon: we will buy back / one will buy back | |
| nous | rachèterons | we will buy back | |
| vous | rachèterez | you will buy back | |
| ils / elles | rachèteront | they will buy back |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul rachètera la maison de son enfance.
Later, Paul will buy back his childhood home.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | rachèterais | I would buy back | |
| tu | rachèterais | you would buy back | |
| il / elle / on | rachèterait | he / she / it would buy backon: we would buy back / one would buy back | |
| nous | rachèterions | we would buy back | |
| vous | rachèteriez | you would buy back | |
| ils / elles | rachèteraient | they would buy back |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul rachèterait la maison de son enfance.
Paul would buy back his childhood home.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | rachète | (that) I buy back | |
| tu | rachètes | (that) you buy back | |
| il / elle / on | rachète | (that) he / she / it buys backon: (that) we buy back / one buys back | |
| nous | rachetions | (that) we buy back | |
| vous | rachetiez | (that) you buy back | |
| ils / elles | rachètent | (that) they buy back |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul rachète la maison de son enfance.
It is possible that Paul buys back his childhood home.
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 buy back
- to buy out, buy off
- to ransom
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