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 blame.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | reproche | I blame | |
| tu | reproches | you blame | |
| il / elle / on | reproche | he / she / it blameson: we blame / one blames | |
| nous | reprochons | we blame | |
| vous | reprochez | you blame | |
| ils / elles | reprochent | they blame |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul reproche ce retard à son collègue.
Paul blames his colleague for this delay.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai reproché | I blamed | |
| tu | as reproché | you blamed | |
| il / elle / on | a reproché | he / she / it blamedon: we blamed / one blamed | |
| nous | avons reproché | we blamed | |
| vous | avez reproché | you blamed | |
| ils / elles | ont reproché | they blamed |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a reproché ce retard à son collègue.
Yesterday, Paul blamed his colleague for this delay.
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’ | reprochais | I used to blame | |
| tu | reprochais | you used to blame | |
| il / elle / on | reprochait | he / she / it used to blameon: we used to blame / one used to blame | |
| nous | reprochions | we used to blame | |
| vous | reprochiez | you used to blame | |
| ils / elles | reprochaient | they used to blame |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul reprochait ce retard à son collègue.
Back then, Paul used to blame his colleague for this delay.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | reprocherai | I will blame | |
| tu | reprocheras | you will blame | |
| il / elle / on | reprochera | he / she / it will blameon: we will blame / one will blame | |
| nous | reprocherons | we will blame | |
| vous | reprocherez | you will blame | |
| ils / elles | reprocheront | they will blame |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul reprochera ce retard à son collègue.
Later, Paul will blame his colleague for this delay.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | reprocherais | I would blame | |
| tu | reprocherais | you would blame | |
| il / elle / on | reprocherait | he / she / it would blameon: we would blame / one would blame | |
| nous | reprocherions | we would blame | |
| vous | reprocheriez | you would blame | |
| ils / elles | reprocheraient | they would blame |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul reprocherait ce retard à son collègue.
Paul would blame his colleague for this delay.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | reproche | (that) I blame | |
| tu | reproches | (that) you blame | |
| il / elle / on | reproche | (that) he / she / it blameson: (that) we blame / one blames | |
| nous | reprochions | (that) we blame | |
| vous | reprochiez | (that) you blame | |
| ils / elles | reprochent | (that) they blame |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul reproche ce retard à son collègue.
It is possible that Paul blames his colleague for this delay.
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 blame somebody for something (place blame upon)
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