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 push back.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | repousse | I push back | |
| tu | repousses | you push back | |
| il / elle / on | repousse | he / she / it pushes backon: we push back / one pushes back | |
| nous | repoussons | we push back | |
| vous | repoussez | you push back | |
| ils / elles | repoussent | they push back |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul repousse la chaise pour ouvrir la porte.
Paul pushes back the chair to open the door.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai repoussé | I pushed back | |
| tu | as repoussé | you pushed back | |
| il / elle / on | a repoussé | he / she / it pushed backon: we pushed back / one pushed back | |
| nous | avons repoussé | we pushed back | |
| vous | avez repoussé | you pushed back | |
| ils / elles | ont repoussé | they pushed back |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a repoussé la chaise pour ouvrir la porte.
Yesterday, Paul pushed back the chair to open the door.
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’ | repoussais | I used to push back | |
| tu | repoussais | you used to push back | |
| il / elle / on | repoussait | he / she / it used to push backon: we used to push back / one used to push back | |
| nous | repoussions | we used to push back | |
| vous | repoussiez | you used to push back | |
| ils / elles | repoussaient | they used to push back |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul repoussait la chaise pour ouvrir la porte.
Back then, Paul used to push back the chair to open the door.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | repousserai | I will push back | |
| tu | repousseras | you will push back | |
| il / elle / on | repoussera | he / she / it will push backon: we will push back / one will push back | |
| nous | repousserons | we will push back | |
| vous | repousserez | you will push back | |
| ils / elles | repousseront | they will push back |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul repoussera la chaise pour ouvrir la porte.
Later, Paul will push back the chair to open the door.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | repousserais | I would push back | |
| tu | repousserais | you would push back | |
| il / elle / on | repousserait | he / she / it would push backon: we would push back / one would push back | |
| nous | repousserions | we would push back | |
| vous | repousseriez | you would push back | |
| ils / elles | repousseraient | they would push back |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul repousserait la chaise pour ouvrir la porte.
Paul would push back the chair to open the door.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | repousse | (that) I push back | |
| tu | repousses | (that) you push back | |
| il / elle / on | repousse | (that) he / she / it pushes backon: (that) we push back / one pushes back | |
| nous | repoussions | (that) we push back | |
| vous | repoussiez | (that) you push back | |
| ils / elles | repoussent | (that) they push back |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul repousse la chaise pour ouvrir la porte.
It is possible that Paul pushes back the chair to open the door.
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 push back, push out of the way
- to repel, drive back, repulse
- to ward off, turn away
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