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 move.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | rapproche | I move | |
| tu | rapproches | you move | |
| il / elle / on | rapproche | he / she / it moveson: we move / one moves | |
| nous | rapprochons | we move | |
| vous | rapprochez | you move | |
| ils / elles | rapprochent | they move |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul rapproche sa chaise de la table.
Paul moves his chair closer to the table.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai rapproché | I moved | |
| tu | as rapproché | you moved | |
| il / elle / on | a rapproché | he / she / it movedon: we moved / one moved | |
| nous | avons rapproché | we moved | |
| vous | avez rapproché | you moved | |
| ils / elles | ont rapproché | they moved |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a rapproché sa chaise de la table.
Yesterday, Paul moved his chair closer to the table.
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’ | rapprochais | I used to move | |
| tu | rapprochais | you used to move | |
| il / elle / on | rapprochait | he / she / it used to moveon: we used to move / one used to move | |
| nous | rapprochions | we used to move | |
| vous | rapprochiez | you used to move | |
| ils / elles | rapprochaient | they used to move |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul rapprochait sa chaise de la table.
Back then, Paul used to move his chair closer to the table.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | rapprocherai | I will move | |
| tu | rapprocheras | you will move | |
| il / elle / on | rapprochera | he / she / it will moveon: we will move / one will move | |
| nous | rapprocherons | we will move | |
| vous | rapprocherez | you will move | |
| ils / elles | rapprocheront | they will move |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul rapprochera sa chaise de la table.
Later, Paul will move his chair closer to the table.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | rapprocherais | I would move | |
| tu | rapprocherais | you would move | |
| il / elle / on | rapprocherait | he / she / it would moveon: we would move / one would move | |
| nous | rapprocherions | we would move | |
| vous | rapprocheriez | you would move | |
| ils / elles | rapprocheraient | they would move |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul rapprocherait sa chaise de la table.
Paul would move his chair closer to the table.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | rapproche | (that) I move | |
| tu | rapproches | (that) you move | |
| il / elle / on | rapproche | (that) he / she / it moveson: (that) we move / one moves | |
| nous | rapprochions | (that) we move | |
| vous | rapprochiez | (that) you move | |
| ils / elles | rapprochent | (that) they move |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul rapproche sa chaise de la table.
It is possible that Paul moves his chair closer to the table.
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.”
Rapprocher moves something closer to a reference point; de introduces that reference point.
Meaning & usage
- to reapproach, to approach again
- to come closer to (physically, as in distance)
- to bring (something or someone) closer to (physically, as in distance)
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