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 dirty.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | salis | I dirty | |
| tu | salis | you dirty | |
| il / elle / on | salit | he / she / it dirtieson: we dirty / one dirties | |
| nous | salissons | we dirty | |
| vous | salissez | you dirty | |
| ils / elles | salissent | they dirty |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul salit ses chaussures dans la boue.
Paul dirties his shoes in the mud.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai sali | I dirtied | |
| tu | as sali | you dirtied | |
| il / elle / on | a sali | he / she / it dirtiedon: we dirtied / one dirtied | |
| nous | avons sali | we dirtied | |
| vous | avez sali | you dirtied | |
| ils / elles | ont sali | they dirtied |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a sali ses chaussures dans la boue.
Yesterday, Paul dirtied his shoes in the mud.
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’ | salissais | I used to dirty | |
| tu | salissais | you used to dirty | |
| il / elle / on | salissait | he / she / it used to dirtyon: we used to dirty / one used to dirty | |
| nous | salissions | we used to dirty | |
| vous | salissiez | you used to dirty | |
| ils / elles | salissaient | they used to dirty |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul salissait ses chaussures dans la boue.
Back then, Paul used to dirty his shoes in the mud.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | salirai | I will dirty | |
| tu | saliras | you will dirty | |
| il / elle / on | salira | he / she / it will dirtyon: we will dirty / one will dirty | |
| nous | salirons | we will dirty | |
| vous | salirez | you will dirty | |
| ils / elles | saliront | they will dirty |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul salira ses chaussures dans la boue.
Later, Paul will dirty his shoes in the mud.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | salirais | I would dirty | |
| tu | salirais | you would dirty | |
| il / elle / on | salirait | he / she / it would dirtyon: we would dirty / one would dirty | |
| nous | salirions | we would dirty | |
| vous | saliriez | you would dirty | |
| ils / elles | saliraient | they would dirty |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul salirait ses chaussures dans la boue.
Paul would dirty his shoes in the mud.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | salisse | (that) I dirty | |
| tu | salisses | (that) you dirty | |
| il / elle / on | salisse | (that) he / she / it dirtieson: (that) we dirty / one dirties | |
| nous | salissions | (that) we dirty | |
| vous | salissiez | (that) you dirty | |
| ils / elles | salissent | (that) they dirty |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul salisse ses chaussures dans la boue.
It is possible that Paul dirties his shoes in the mud.
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 dirty, make dirty
- to sully (someone's reputation etc.)
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