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 reduce.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | réduis | I reduce | |
| tu | réduis | you reduce | |
| il / elle / on | réduit | he / she / it reduceson: we reduce / one reduces | |
| nous | réduisons | we reduce | |
| vous | réduisez | you reduce | |
| ils / elles | réduisent | they reduce |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul réduit sa consommation d'eau.
Paul reduces his water consumption.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai réduit | I reduced | |
| tu | as réduit | you reduced | |
| il / elle / on | a réduit | he / she / it reducedon: we reduced / one reduced | |
| nous | avons réduit | we reduced | |
| vous | avez réduit | you reduced | |
| ils / elles | ont réduit | they reduced |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a réduit sa consommation d'eau.
Yesterday, Paul reduced his water consumption.
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’ | réduisais | I used to reduce | |
| tu | réduisais | you used to reduce | |
| il / elle / on | réduisait | he / she / it used to reduceon: we used to reduce / one used to reduce | |
| nous | réduisions | we used to reduce | |
| vous | réduisiez | you used to reduce | |
| ils / elles | réduisaient | they used to reduce |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul réduisait sa consommation d'eau.
Back then, Paul used to reduce his water consumption.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | réduirai | I will reduce | |
| tu | réduiras | you will reduce | |
| il / elle / on | réduira | he / she / it will reduceon: we will reduce / one will reduce | |
| nous | réduirons | we will reduce | |
| vous | réduirez | you will reduce | |
| ils / elles | réduiront | they will reduce |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul réduira sa consommation d'eau.
Later, Paul will reduce his water consumption.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | réduirais | I would reduce | |
| tu | réduirais | you would reduce | |
| il / elle / on | réduirait | he / she / it would reduceon: we would reduce / one would reduce | |
| nous | réduirions | we would reduce | |
| vous | réduiriez | you would reduce | |
| ils / elles | réduiraient | they would reduce |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul réduirait sa consommation d'eau.
Paul would reduce his water consumption.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | réduise | (that) I reduce | |
| tu | réduises | (that) you reduce | |
| il / elle / on | réduise | (that) he / she / it reduceson: (that) we reduce / one reduces | |
| nous | réduisions | (that) we reduce | |
| vous | réduisiez | (that) you reduce | |
| ils / elles | réduisent | (that) they reduce |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul réduise sa consommation d'eau.
It is possible that Paul reduces his water consumption.
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 reduce
- to cut (prices); to shorten (text); to reduce, scale down (pictures, etc.)
- to reduce (someone)
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