recourir: conjugation and meaning · How to Learn French

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 turn to.”

Present Présent

Habits, current states, and actions happening now.

recourir: Present, with English translations
Subject	French	English
je / j’	recours	I turn to
tu	recours	you turn to
il / elle / on	recourt	he / she / it turns toon: we turn to / one turns to
nous	recourons	we turn to
vous	recourez	you turn to
ils / elles	recourent	they turn to

IN A SENTENCEPresent example

Paul recourt à un dictionnaire pour vérifier le mot.

Paul turns to a dictionary to check the word.

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Passé composé

Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.

recourir: Passé composé, with English translations
Subject	French	English
je / j’	ai recouru	I turned to
tu	as recouru	you turned to
il / elle / on	a recouru	he / she / it turned toon: we turned to / one turned to
nous	avons recouru	we turned to
vous	avez recouru	you turned to
ils / elles	ont recouru	they turned to

IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example

Hier, Paul a recouru à un dictionnaire pour vérifier le mot.

Yesterday, Paul turned to a dictionary to check the word.

The passé composé uses avoir. The table shows the unmarked participle; agreement with a preceding direct object is outside this reference.

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Imperfect Imparfait

Past habits, descriptions, and actions in progress.

recourir: Imperfect, with English translations
Subject	French	English
je / j’	recourais	I used to turn to
tu	recourais	you used to turn to
il / elle / on	recourait	he / she / it used to turn toon: we used to turn to / one used to turn to
nous	recourions	we used to turn to
vous	recouriez	you used to turn to
ils / elles	recouraient	they used to turn to

IN A SENTENCEImperfect example

Autrefois, Paul recourait à un dictionnaire pour vérifier le mot.

Back then, Paul used to turn to a dictionary to check the word.

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Future Futur simple

Future events and predictions.

recourir: Future, with English translations
Subject	French	English
je / j’	recourrai	I will turn to
tu	recourras	you will turn to
il / elle / on	recourra	he / she / it will turn toon: we will turn to / one will turn to
nous	recourrons	we will turn to
vous	recourrez	you will turn to
ils / elles	recourront	they will turn to

IN A SENTENCEFuture example

Plus tard, Paul recourra à un dictionnaire pour vérifier le mot.

Later, Paul will turn to a dictionary to check the word.

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Conditional Conditionnel présent

Hypothetical events and polite requests.

recourir: Conditional, with English translations
Subject	French	English
je / j’	recourrais	I would turn to
tu	recourrais	you would turn to
il / elle / on	recourrait	he / she / it would turn toon: we would turn to / one would turn to
nous	recourrions	we would turn to
vous	recourriez	you would turn to
ils / elles	recourraient	they would turn to

IN A SENTENCEConditional example

Paul recourrait à un dictionnaire pour vérifier le mot.

Paul would turn to a dictionary to check the word.

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Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent

Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.

recourir: Present subjunctive, with English translations
Subject	French	English
je / j’	recoure	(that) I turn to
tu	recoures	(that) you turn to
il / elle / on	recoure	(that) he / she / it turns toon: (that) we turn to / one turns to
nous	recourions	(that) we turn to
vous	recouriez	(that) you turn to
ils / elles	recourent	(that) they turn to

IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example

Il est possible que Paul recoure à un dictionnaire pour vérifier le mot.

It is possible that Paul turns to a dictionary to check the word.

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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 run again, to race again
to resort
to turn [with à ‘to a person'] (for help, etc.)

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