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 dry.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | sèche | I dry | |
| tu | sèches | you dry | |
| il / elle / on | sèche | he / she / it drieson: we dry / one dries | |
| nous | séchons | we dry | |
| vous | séchez | you dry | |
| ils / elles | sèchent | they dry |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul sèche le linge au soleil.
Paul dries the laundry in the sun.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai séché | I dried | |
| tu | as séché | you dried | |
| il / elle / on | a séché | he / she / it driedon: we dried / one dried | |
| nous | avons séché | we dried | |
| vous | avez séché | you dried | |
| ils / elles | ont séché | they dried |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a séché le linge au soleil.
Yesterday, Paul dried the laundry in the sun.
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’ | séchais | I used to dry | |
| tu | séchais | you used to dry | |
| il / elle / on | séchait | he / she / it used to dryon: we used to dry / one used to dry | |
| nous | séchions | we used to dry | |
| vous | séchiez | you used to dry | |
| ils / elles | séchaient | they used to dry |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul séchait le linge au soleil.
Back then, Paul used to dry the laundry in the sun.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | sècherai / sécherai | I will dry | |
| tu | sècheras / sécheras | you will dry | |
| il / elle / on | sèchera / séchera | he / she / it will dryon: we will dry / one will dry | |
| nous | sècherons / sécherons | we will dry | |
| vous | sècherez / sécherez | you will dry | |
| ils / elles | sècheront / sécheront | they will dry |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul sèchera le linge au soleil.
Later, Paul will dry the laundry in the sun.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | sècherais / sécherais | I would dry | |
| tu | sècherais / sécherais | you would dry | |
| il / elle / on | sècherait / sécherait | he / she / it would dryon: we would dry / one would dry | |
| nous | sècherions / sécherions | we would dry | |
| vous | sècheriez / sécheriez | you would dry | |
| ils / elles | sècheraient / sécheraient | they would dry |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul sècherait le linge au soleil.
Paul would dry the laundry in the sun.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | sèche | (that) I dry | |
| tu | sèches | (that) you dry | |
| il / elle / on | sèche | (that) he / she / it drieson: (that) we dry / one dries | |
| nous | séchions | (that) we dry | |
| vous | séchiez | (that) you dry | |
| ils / elles | sèchent | (that) they dry |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul sèche le linge au soleil.
It is possible that Paul dries the laundry in the sun.
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 dry
- to play truant
- to dry up, to run out of things to say
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