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 cool.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | refroidis | I cool | |
| tu | refroidis | you cool | |
| il / elle / on | refroidit | he / she / it coolson: we cool / one cools | |
| nous | refroidissons | we cool | |
| vous | refroidissez | you cool | |
| ils / elles | refroidissent | they cool |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul refroidit la soupe avec un peu d'eau.
Paul cools the soup with a little water.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai refroidi | I cooled | |
| tu | as refroidi | you cooled | |
| il / elle / on | a refroidi | he / she / it cooledon: we cooled / one cooled | |
| nous | avons refroidi | we cooled | |
| vous | avez refroidi | you cooled | |
| ils / elles | ont refroidi | they cooled |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a refroidi la soupe avec un peu d'eau.
Yesterday, Paul cooled the soup with a little water.
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’ | refroidissais | I used to cool | |
| tu | refroidissais | you used to cool | |
| il / elle / on | refroidissait | he / she / it used to coolon: we used to cool / one used to cool | |
| nous | refroidissions | we used to cool | |
| vous | refroidissiez | you used to cool | |
| ils / elles | refroidissaient | they used to cool |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul refroidissait la soupe avec un peu d'eau.
Back then, Paul used to cool the soup with a little water.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | refroidirai | I will cool | |
| tu | refroidiras | you will cool | |
| il / elle / on | refroidira | he / she / it will coolon: we will cool / one will cool | |
| nous | refroidirons | we will cool | |
| vous | refroidirez | you will cool | |
| ils / elles | refroidiront | they will cool |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul refroidira la soupe avec un peu d'eau.
Later, Paul will cool the soup with a little water.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | refroidirais | I would cool | |
| tu | refroidirais | you would cool | |
| il / elle / on | refroidirait | he / she / it would coolon: we would cool / one would cool | |
| nous | refroidirions | we would cool | |
| vous | refroidiriez | you would cool | |
| ils / elles | refroidiraient | they would cool |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul refroidirait la soupe avec un peu d'eau.
Paul would cool the soup with a little water.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | refroidisse | (that) I cool | |
| tu | refroidisses | (that) you cool | |
| il / elle / on | refroidisse | (that) he / she / it coolson: (that) we cool / one cools | |
| nous | refroidissions | (that) we cool | |
| vous | refroidissiez | (that) you cool | |
| ils / elles | refroidissent | (that) they cool |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul refroidisse la soupe avec un peu d'eau.
It is possible that Paul cools the soup with a little water.
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 lower the temperature of; to cool
- to become less active; to cool down, cool off
- to strongly reduce or diminish something such as interest, zeal, 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