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 ruin.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ruine | I ruin | |
| tu | ruines | you ruin | |
| il / elle / on | ruine | he / she / it ruinson: we ruin / one ruins | |
| nous | ruinons | we ruin | |
| vous | ruinez | you ruin | |
| ils / elles | ruinent | they ruin |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
L'incendie ruine les récoltes.
The fire ruins the crops.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai ruiné | I ruined | |
| tu | as ruiné | you ruined | |
| il / elle / on | a ruiné | he / she / it ruinedon: we ruined / one ruined | |
| nous | avons ruiné | we ruined | |
| vous | avez ruiné | you ruined | |
| ils / elles | ont ruiné | they ruined |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, l'incendie a ruiné les récoltes.
Yesterday, the fire ruined the crops.
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’ | ruinais | I used to ruin | |
| tu | ruinais | you used to ruin | |
| il / elle / on | ruinait | he / she / it used to ruinon: we used to ruin / one used to ruin | |
| nous | ruinions | we used to ruin | |
| vous | ruiniez | you used to ruin | |
| ils / elles | ruinaient | they used to ruin |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, l'incendie ruinait les récoltes.
Back then, the fire used to ruin the crops.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ruinerai | I will ruin | |
| tu | ruineras | you will ruin | |
| il / elle / on | ruinera | he / she / it will ruinon: we will ruin / one will ruin | |
| nous | ruinerons | we will ruin | |
| vous | ruinerez | you will ruin | |
| ils / elles | ruineront | they will ruin |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, l'incendie ruinera les récoltes.
Later, the fire will ruin the crops.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ruinerais | I would ruin | |
| tu | ruinerais | you would ruin | |
| il / elle / on | ruinerait | he / she / it would ruinon: we would ruin / one would ruin | |
| nous | ruinerions | we would ruin | |
| vous | ruineriez | you would ruin | |
| ils / elles | ruineraient | they would ruin |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
L'incendie ruinerait les récoltes.
The fire would ruin the crops.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ruine | (that) I ruin | |
| tu | ruines | (that) you ruin | |
| il / elle / on | ruine | (that) he / she / it ruinson: (that) we ruin / one ruins | |
| nous | ruinions | (that) we ruin | |
| vous | ruiniez | (that) you ruin | |
| ils / elles | ruinent | (that) they ruin |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que l'incendie ruine les récoltes.
It is possible that the fire ruins the crops.
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 ruin
- to raze to the ground, to destroy, to wreck
- to shatter (hope), to ruin (reputation)
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