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 recruit.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | recrute | I recruit | |
| tu | recrutes | you recruit | |
| il / elle / on | recrute | he / she / it recruitson: we recruit / one recruits | |
| nous | recrutons | we recruit | |
| vous | recrutez | you recruit | |
| ils / elles | recrutent | they recruit |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Le directeur recrute un nouveau comptable.
The director recruits a new accountant.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai recruté | I recruited | |
| tu | as recruté | you recruited | |
| il / elle / on | a recruté | he / she / it recruitedon: we recruited / one recruited | |
| nous | avons recruté | we recruited | |
| vous | avez recruté | you recruited | |
| ils / elles | ont recruté | they recruited |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, le directeur a recruté un nouveau comptable.
Yesterday, the director recruited a new accountant.
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’ | recrutais | I used to recruit | |
| tu | recrutais | you used to recruit | |
| il / elle / on | recrutait | he / she / it used to recruiton: we used to recruit / one used to recruit | |
| nous | recrutions | we used to recruit | |
| vous | recrutiez | you used to recruit | |
| ils / elles | recrutaient | they used to recruit |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, le directeur recrutait un nouveau comptable.
Back then, the director used to recruit a new accountant.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | recruterai | I will recruit | |
| tu | recruteras | you will recruit | |
| il / elle / on | recrutera | he / she / it will recruiton: we will recruit / one will recruit | |
| nous | recruterons | we will recruit | |
| vous | recruterez | you will recruit | |
| ils / elles | recruteront | they will recruit |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, le directeur recrutera un nouveau comptable.
Later, the director will recruit a new accountant.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | recruterais | I would recruit | |
| tu | recruterais | you would recruit | |
| il / elle / on | recruterait | he / she / it would recruiton: we would recruit / one would recruit | |
| nous | recruterions | we would recruit | |
| vous | recruteriez | you would recruit | |
| ils / elles | recruteraient | they would recruit |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Le directeur recruterait un nouveau comptable.
The director would recruit a new accountant.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | recrute | (that) I recruit | |
| tu | recrutes | (that) you recruit | |
| il / elle / on | recrute | (that) he / she / it recruitson: (that) we recruit / one recruits | |
| nous | recrutions | (that) we recruit | |
| vous | recrutiez | (that) you recruit | |
| ils / elles | recrutent | (that) they recruit |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que le directeur recrute un nouveau comptable.
It is possible that the director recruits a new accountant.
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 recruit
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