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 remove.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | retire | I remove | |
| tu | retires | you remove | |
| il / elle / on | retire | he / she / it removeson: we remove / one removes | |
| nous | retirons | we remove | |
| vous | retirez | you remove | |
| ils / elles | retirent | they remove |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul retire ses gants.
Paul removes his gloves.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai retiré | I removed | |
| tu | as retiré | you removed | |
| il / elle / on | a retiré | he / she / it removedon: we removed / one removed | |
| nous | avons retiré | we removed | |
| vous | avez retiré | you removed | |
| ils / elles | ont retiré | they removed |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a retiré ses gants.
Yesterday, Paul removed his gloves.
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’ | retirais | I used to remove | |
| tu | retirais | you used to remove | |
| il / elle / on | retirait | he / she / it used to removeon: we used to remove / one used to remove | |
| nous | retirions | we used to remove | |
| vous | retiriez | you used to remove | |
| ils / elles | retiraient | they used to remove |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul retirait ses gants.
Back then, Paul used to remove his gloves.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | retirerai | I will remove | |
| tu | retireras | you will remove | |
| il / elle / on | retirera | he / she / it will removeon: we will remove / one will remove | |
| nous | retirerons | we will remove | |
| vous | retirerez | you will remove | |
| ils / elles | retireront | they will remove |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul retirera ses gants.
Later, Paul will remove his gloves.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | retirerais | I would remove | |
| tu | retirerais | you would remove | |
| il / elle / on | retirerait | he / she / it would removeon: we would remove / one would remove | |
| nous | retirerions | we would remove | |
| vous | retireriez | you would remove | |
| ils / elles | retireraient | they would remove |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul retirerait ses gants.
Paul would remove his gloves.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | retire | (that) I remove | |
| tu | retires | (that) you remove | |
| il / elle / on | retire | (that) he / she / it removeson: (that) we remove / one removes | |
| nous | retirions | (that) we remove | |
| vous | retiriez | (that) you remove | |
| ils / elles | retirent | (that) they remove |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul retire ses gants.
It is possible that Paul removes his gloves.
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 take off; to remove (e.g. clothes); to pull out
- to withdraw; to get out; to take out (money)
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