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 safeguard.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | sauvegarde | I safeguard | |
| tu | sauvegardes | you safeguard | |
| il / elle / on | sauvegarde | he / she / it safeguardson: we safeguard / one safeguards | |
| nous | sauvegardons | we safeguard | |
| vous | sauvegardez | you safeguard | |
| ils / elles | sauvegardent | they safeguard |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul sauvegarde les archives du village.
Paul safeguards the village archives.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai sauvegardé | I safeguarded | |
| tu | as sauvegardé | you safeguarded | |
| il / elle / on | a sauvegardé | he / she / it safeguardedon: we safeguarded / one safeguarded | |
| nous | avons sauvegardé | we safeguarded | |
| vous | avez sauvegardé | you safeguarded | |
| ils / elles | ont sauvegardé | they safeguarded |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a sauvegardé les archives du village.
Yesterday, Paul safeguarded the village archives.
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’ | sauvegardais | I used to safeguard | |
| tu | sauvegardais | you used to safeguard | |
| il / elle / on | sauvegardait | he / she / it used to safeguardon: we used to safeguard / one used to safeguard | |
| nous | sauvegardions | we used to safeguard | |
| vous | sauvegardiez | you used to safeguard | |
| ils / elles | sauvegardaient | they used to safeguard |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul sauvegardait les archives du village.
Back then, Paul used to safeguard the village archives.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | sauvegarderai | I will safeguard | |
| tu | sauvegarderas | you will safeguard | |
| il / elle / on | sauvegardera | he / she / it will safeguardon: we will safeguard / one will safeguard | |
| nous | sauvegarderons | we will safeguard | |
| vous | sauvegarderez | you will safeguard | |
| ils / elles | sauvegarderont | they will safeguard |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul sauvegardera les archives du village.
Later, Paul will safeguard the village archives.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | sauvegarderais | I would safeguard | |
| tu | sauvegarderais | you would safeguard | |
| il / elle / on | sauvegarderait | he / she / it would safeguardon: we would safeguard / one would safeguard | |
| nous | sauvegarderions | we would safeguard | |
| vous | sauvegarderiez | you would safeguard | |
| ils / elles | sauvegarderaient | they would safeguard |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul sauvegarderait les archives du village.
Paul would safeguard the village archives.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | sauvegarde | (that) I safeguard | |
| tu | sauvegardes | (that) you safeguard | |
| il / elle / on | sauvegarde | (that) he / she / it safeguardson: (that) we safeguard / one safeguards | |
| nous | sauvegardions | (that) we safeguard | |
| vous | sauvegardiez | (that) you safeguard | |
| ils / elles | sauvegardent | (that) they safeguard |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul sauvegarde les archives du village.
It is possible that Paul safeguards the village archives.
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 safeguard; to protect
- to preserve, to keep intact
- to save
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