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 grab.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | saisis | I grab | |
| tu | saisis | you grab | |
| il / elle / on | saisit | he / she / it grabson: we grab / one grabs | |
| nous | saisissons | we grab | |
| vous | saisissez | you grab | |
| ils / elles | saisissent | they grab |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul saisit la poignée de la porte.
Paul grabs the door handle.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai saisi | I grabbed | |
| tu | as saisi | you grabbed | |
| il / elle / on | a saisi | he / she / it grabbedon: we grabbed / one grabbed | |
| nous | avons saisi | we grabbed | |
| vous | avez saisi | you grabbed | |
| ils / elles | ont saisi | they grabbed |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a saisi la poignée de la porte.
Yesterday, Paul grabbed the door handle.
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’ | saisissais | I used to grab | |
| tu | saisissais | you used to grab | |
| il / elle / on | saisissait | he / she / it used to grabon: we used to grab / one used to grab | |
| nous | saisissions | we used to grab | |
| vous | saisissiez | you used to grab | |
| ils / elles | saisissaient | they used to grab |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul saisissait la poignée de la porte.
Back then, Paul used to grab the door handle.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | saisirai | I will grab | |
| tu | saisiras | you will grab | |
| il / elle / on | saisira | he / she / it will grabon: we will grab / one will grab | |
| nous | saisirons | we will grab | |
| vous | saisirez | you will grab | |
| ils / elles | saisiront | they will grab |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul saisira la poignée de la porte.
Later, Paul will grab the door handle.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | saisirais | I would grab | |
| tu | saisirais | you would grab | |
| il / elle / on | saisirait | he / she / it would grabon: we would grab / one would grab | |
| nous | saisirions | we would grab | |
| vous | saisiriez | you would grab | |
| ils / elles | saisiraient | they would grab |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul saisirait la poignée de la porte.
Paul would grab the door handle.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | saisisse | (that) I grab | |
| tu | saisisses | (that) you grab | |
| il / elle / on | saisisse | (that) he / she / it grabson: (that) we grab / one grabs | |
| nous | saisissions | (that) we grab | |
| vous | saisissiez | (that) you grab | |
| ils / elles | saisissent | (that) they grab |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul saisisse la poignée de la porte.
It is possible that Paul grabs the door handle.
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 hold of; to grab
- to seize, to take (an illegal product), to capture
- to grasp mentally; understand
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