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 wake.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | réveille | I wake | |
| tu | réveilles | you wake | |
| il / elle / on | réveille | he / she / it wakeson: we wake / one wakes | |
| nous | réveillons | we wake | |
| vous | réveillez | you wake | |
| ils / elles | réveillent | they wake |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul réveille son frère à sept heures.
Paul wakes his brother at seven o'clock.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai réveillé | I woke | |
| tu | as réveillé | you woke | |
| il / elle / on | a réveillé | he / she / it wokeon: we woke / one woke | |
| nous | avons réveillé | we woke | |
| vous | avez réveillé | you woke | |
| ils / elles | ont réveillé | they woke |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a réveillé son frère à sept heures.
Yesterday, Paul woke his brother at seven o'clock.
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’ | réveillais | I used to wake | |
| tu | réveillais | you used to wake | |
| il / elle / on | réveillait | he / she / it used to wakeon: we used to wake / one used to wake | |
| nous | réveillions | we used to wake | |
| vous | réveilliez | you used to wake | |
| ils / elles | réveillaient | they used to wake |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul réveillait son frère à sept heures.
Back then, Paul used to wake his brother at seven o'clock.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | réveillerai | I will wake | |
| tu | réveilleras | you will wake | |
| il / elle / on | réveillera | he / she / it will wakeon: we will wake / one will wake | |
| nous | réveillerons | we will wake | |
| vous | réveillerez | you will wake | |
| ils / elles | réveilleront | they will wake |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul réveillera son frère à sept heures.
Later, Paul will wake his brother at seven o'clock.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | réveillerais | I would wake | |
| tu | réveillerais | you would wake | |
| il / elle / on | réveillerait | he / she / it would wakeon: we would wake / one would wake | |
| nous | réveillerions | we would wake | |
| vous | réveilleriez | you would wake | |
| ils / elles | réveilleraient | they would wake |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul réveillerait son frère à sept heures.
Paul would wake his brother at seven o'clock.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | réveille | (that) I wake | |
| tu | réveilles | (that) you wake | |
| il / elle / on | réveille | (that) he / she / it wakeson: (that) we wake / one wakes | |
| nous | réveillions | (that) we wake | |
| vous | réveilliez | (that) you wake | |
| ils / elles | réveillent | (that) they wake |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul réveille son frère à sept heures.
It is possible that Paul wakes his brother at seven o'clock.
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 awaken
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