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 refer.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | réfère | I refer | |
| tu | réfères | you refer | |
| il / elle / on | réfère | he / she / it referson: we refer / one refers | |
| nous | référons | we refer | |
| vous | référez | you refer | |
| ils / elles | réfèrent | they refer |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Le médecin réfère le patient à un spécialiste.
The doctor refers the patient to a specialist.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai référé | I referred | |
| tu | as référé | you referred | |
| il / elle / on | a référé | he / she / it referredon: we referred / one referred | |
| nous | avons référé | we referred | |
| vous | avez référé | you referred | |
| ils / elles | ont référé | they referred |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, le médecin a référé le patient à un spécialiste.
Yesterday, the doctor referred the patient to a specialist.
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’ | référais | I used to refer | |
| tu | référais | you used to refer | |
| il / elle / on | référait | he / she / it used to referon: we used to refer / one used to refer | |
| nous | référions | we used to refer | |
| vous | référiez | you used to refer | |
| ils / elles | référaient | they used to refer |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, le médecin référait le patient à un spécialiste.
Back then, the doctor used to refer the patient to a specialist.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | réfèrerai / référerai | I will refer | |
| tu | réfèreras / référeras | you will refer | |
| il / elle / on | réfèrera / référera | he / she / it will referon: we will refer / one will refer | |
| nous | réfèrerons / référerons | we will refer | |
| vous | réfèrerez / référerez | you will refer | |
| ils / elles | réfèreront / référeront | they will refer |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, le médecin réfèrera le patient à un spécialiste.
Later, the doctor will refer the patient to a specialist.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | réfèrerais / référerais | I would refer | |
| tu | réfèrerais / référerais | you would refer | |
| il / elle / on | réfèrerait / référerait | he / she / it would referon: we would refer / one would refer | |
| nous | réfèrerions / référerions | we would refer | |
| vous | réfèreriez / référeriez | you would refer | |
| ils / elles | réfèreraient / référeraient | they would refer |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Le médecin réfèrerait le patient à un spécialiste.
The doctor would refer the patient to a specialist.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | réfère | (that) I refer | |
| tu | réfères | (that) you refer | |
| il / elle / on | réfère | (that) he / she / it referson: (that) we refer / one refers | |
| nous | référions | (that) we refer | |
| vous | référiez | (that) you refer | |
| ils / elles | réfèrent | (that) they refer |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que le médecin réfère le patient à un spécialiste.
It is possible that the doctor refers the patient to a specialist.
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.”
Referring a patient with référer quelqu’un à is common in Canadian French. In France, adresser quelqu’un à is usual.
Meaning & usage
- to refer (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