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 draft.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | rédige | I draft | |
| tu | rédiges | you draft | |
| il / elle / on | rédige | he / she / it draftson: we draft / one drafts | |
| nous | rédigeons | we draft | |
| vous | rédigez | you draft | |
| ils / elles | rédigent | they draft |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul rédige une lettre au directeur.
Paul drafts a letter to the director.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai rédigé | I drafted | |
| tu | as rédigé | you drafted | |
| il / elle / on | a rédigé | he / she / it draftedon: we drafted / one drafted | |
| nous | avons rédigé | we drafted | |
| vous | avez rédigé | you drafted | |
| ils / elles | ont rédigé | they drafted |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a rédigé une lettre au directeur.
Yesterday, Paul drafted a letter to the director.
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’ | rédigeais | I used to draft | |
| tu | rédigeais | you used to draft | |
| il / elle / on | rédigeait | he / she / it used to drafton: we used to draft / one used to draft | |
| nous | rédigions | we used to draft | |
| vous | rédigiez | you used to draft | |
| ils / elles | rédigeaient | they used to draft |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul rédigeait une lettre au directeur.
Back then, Paul used to draft a letter to the director.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | rédigerai | I will draft | |
| tu | rédigeras | you will draft | |
| il / elle / on | rédigera | he / she / it will drafton: we will draft / one will draft | |
| nous | rédigerons | we will draft | |
| vous | rédigerez | you will draft | |
| ils / elles | rédigeront | they will draft |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul rédigera une lettre au directeur.
Later, Paul will draft a letter to the director.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | rédigerais | I would draft | |
| tu | rédigerais | you would draft | |
| il / elle / on | rédigerait | he / she / it would drafton: we would draft / one would draft | |
| nous | rédigerions | we would draft | |
| vous | rédigeriez | you would draft | |
| ils / elles | rédigeraient | they would draft |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul rédigerait une lettre au directeur.
Paul would draft a letter to the director.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | rédige | (that) I draft | |
| tu | rédiges | (that) you draft | |
| il / elle / on | rédige | (that) he / she / it draftson: (that) we draft / one drafts | |
| nous | rédigions | (that) we draft | |
| vous | rédigiez | (that) you draft | |
| ils / elles | rédigent | (that) they draft |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul rédige une lettre au directeur.
It is possible that Paul drafts a letter to the director.
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 write; to draft
- to compose, write in a well defined manner according to context and the style required, often definite
- to sum up, put on paper (a law, verdict, ...)
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