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 replace.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | remplace | I replace | |
| tu | remplaces | you replace | |
| il / elle / on | remplace | he / she / it replaceson: we replace / one replaces | |
| nous | remplaçons | we replace | |
| vous | remplacez | you replace | |
| ils / elles | remplacent | they replace |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul remplace la pile de sa montre.
Paul replaces the battery in his watch.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai remplacé | I replaced | |
| tu | as remplacé | you replaced | |
| il / elle / on | a remplacé | he / she / it replacedon: we replaced / one replaced | |
| nous | avons remplacé | we replaced | |
| vous | avez remplacé | you replaced | |
| ils / elles | ont remplacé | they replaced |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a remplacé la pile de sa montre.
Yesterday, Paul replaced the battery in his watch.
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’ | remplaçais | I used to replace | |
| tu | remplaçais | you used to replace | |
| il / elle / on | remplaçait | he / she / it used to replaceon: we used to replace / one used to replace | |
| nous | remplacions | we used to replace | |
| vous | remplaciez | you used to replace | |
| ils / elles | remplaçaient | they used to replace |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul remplaçait la pile de sa montre.
Back then, Paul used to replace the battery in his watch.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | remplacerai | I will replace | |
| tu | remplaceras | you will replace | |
| il / elle / on | remplacera | he / she / it will replaceon: we will replace / one will replace | |
| nous | remplacerons | we will replace | |
| vous | remplacerez | you will replace | |
| ils / elles | remplaceront | they will replace |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul remplacera la pile de sa montre.
Later, Paul will replace the battery in his watch.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | remplacerais | I would replace | |
| tu | remplacerais | you would replace | |
| il / elle / on | remplacerait | he / she / it would replaceon: we would replace / one would replace | |
| nous | remplacerions | we would replace | |
| vous | remplaceriez | you would replace | |
| ils / elles | remplaceraient | they would replace |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul remplacerait la pile de sa montre.
Paul would replace the battery in his watch.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | remplace | (that) I replace | |
| tu | remplaces | (that) you replace | |
| il / elle / on | remplace | (that) he / she / it replaceson: (that) we replace / one replaces | |
| nous | remplacions | (that) we replace | |
| vous | remplaciez | (that) you replace | |
| ils / elles | remplacent | (that) they replace |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul remplace la pile de sa montre.
It is possible that Paul replaces the battery in his watch.
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 replace
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