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 spill.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | renverse | I spill | |
| tu | renverses | you spill | |
| il / elle / on | renverse | he / she / it spillson: we spill / one spills | |
| nous | renversons | we spill | |
| vous | renversez | you spill | |
| ils / elles | renversent | they spill |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul renverse son café sur la table.
Paul spills his coffee on the table.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai renversé | I spilled | |
| tu | as renversé | you spilled | |
| il / elle / on | a renversé | he / she / it spilledon: we spilled / one spilled | |
| nous | avons renversé | we spilled | |
| vous | avez renversé | you spilled | |
| ils / elles | ont renversé | they spilled |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a renversé son café sur la table.
Yesterday, Paul spilled his coffee on the table.
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’ | renversais | I used to spill | |
| tu | renversais | you used to spill | |
| il / elle / on | renversait | he / she / it used to spillon: we used to spill / one used to spill | |
| nous | renversions | we used to spill | |
| vous | renversiez | you used to spill | |
| ils / elles | renversaient | they used to spill |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul renversait son café sur la table.
Back then, Paul used to spill his coffee on the table.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | renverserai | I will spill | |
| tu | renverseras | you will spill | |
| il / elle / on | renversera | he / she / it will spillon: we will spill / one will spill | |
| nous | renverserons | we will spill | |
| vous | renverserez | you will spill | |
| ils / elles | renverseront | they will spill |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul renversera son café sur la table.
Later, Paul will spill his coffee on the table.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | renverserais | I would spill | |
| tu | renverserais | you would spill | |
| il / elle / on | renverserait | he / she / it would spillon: we would spill / one would spill | |
| nous | renverserions | we would spill | |
| vous | renverseriez | you would spill | |
| ils / elles | renverseraient | they would spill |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul renverserait son café sur la table.
Paul would spill his coffee on the table.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | renverse | (that) I spill | |
| tu | renverses | (that) you spill | |
| il / elle / on | renverse | (that) he / she / it spillson: (that) we spill / one spills | |
| nous | renversions | (that) we spill | |
| vous | renversiez | (that) you spill | |
| ils / elles | renversent | (that) they spill |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul renverse son café sur la table.
It is possible that Paul spills his coffee on the table.
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 turn over, turn upside down
- to knock over, knock to the ground
- to run over
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