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 refuse.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | refuse | I refuse | |
| tu | refuses | you refuse | |
| il / elle / on | refuse | he / she / it refuseson: we refuse / one refuses | |
| nous | refusons | we refuse | |
| vous | refusez | you refuse | |
| ils / elles | refusent | they refuse |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul refuse de partir sans son ami.
Paul refuses to leave without his friend.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai refusé | I refused | |
| tu | as refusé | you refused | |
| il / elle / on | a refusé | he / she / it refusedon: we refused / one refused | |
| nous | avons refusé | we refused | |
| vous | avez refusé | you refused | |
| ils / elles | ont refusé | they refused |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a refusé de partir sans son ami.
Yesterday, Paul refused to leave without his friend.
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’ | refusais | I used to refuse | |
| tu | refusais | you used to refuse | |
| il / elle / on | refusait | he / she / it used to refuseon: we used to refuse / one used to refuse | |
| nous | refusions | we used to refuse | |
| vous | refusiez | you used to refuse | |
| ils / elles | refusaient | they used to refuse |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul refusait de partir sans son ami.
Back then, Paul used to refuse to leave without his friend.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | refuserai | I will refuse | |
| tu | refuseras | you will refuse | |
| il / elle / on | refusera | he / she / it will refuseon: we will refuse / one will refuse | |
| nous | refuserons | we will refuse | |
| vous | refuserez | you will refuse | |
| ils / elles | refuseront | they will refuse |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul refusera de partir sans son ami.
Later, Paul will refuse to leave without his friend.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | refuserais | I would refuse | |
| tu | refuserais | you would refuse | |
| il / elle / on | refuserait | he / she / it would refuseon: we would refuse / one would refuse | |
| nous | refuserions | we would refuse | |
| vous | refuseriez | you would refuse | |
| ils / elles | refuseraient | they would refuse |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul refuserait de partir sans son ami.
Paul would refuse to leave without his friend.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | refuse | (that) I refuse | |
| tu | refuses | (that) you refuse | |
| il / elle / on | refuse | (that) he / she / it refuseson: (that) we refuse / one refuses | |
| nous | refusions | (that) we refuse | |
| vous | refusiez | (that) you refuse | |
| ils / elles | refusent | (that) they refuse |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul refuse de partir sans son ami.
It is possible that Paul refuses to leave without his friend.
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 refuse
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