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 treat.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | soigne | I treat | |
| tu | soignes | you treat | |
| il / elle / on | soigne | he / she / it treatson: we treat / one treats | |
| nous | soignons | we treat | |
| vous | soignez | you treat | |
| ils / elles | soignent | they treat |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul soigne un patient à l'hôpital.
Paul treats a patient at the hospital.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai soigné | I treated | |
| tu | as soigné | you treated | |
| il / elle / on | a soigné | he / she / it treatedon: we treated / one treated | |
| nous | avons soigné | we treated | |
| vous | avez soigné | you treated | |
| ils / elles | ont soigné | they treated |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a soigné un patient à l'hôpital.
Yesterday, Paul treated a patient at the hospital.
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’ | soignais | I used to treat | |
| tu | soignais | you used to treat | |
| il / elle / on | soignait | he / she / it used to treaton: we used to treat / one used to treat | |
| nous | soignions | we used to treat | |
| vous | soigniez | you used to treat | |
| ils / elles | soignaient | they used to treat |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul soignait un patient à l'hôpital.
Back then, Paul used to treat a patient at the hospital.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | soignerai | I will treat | |
| tu | soigneras | you will treat | |
| il / elle / on | soignera | he / she / it will treaton: we will treat / one will treat | |
| nous | soignerons | we will treat | |
| vous | soignerez | you will treat | |
| ils / elles | soigneront | they will treat |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul soignera un patient à l'hôpital.
Later, Paul will treat a patient at the hospital.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | soignerais | I would treat | |
| tu | soignerais | you would treat | |
| il / elle / on | soignerait | he / she / it would treaton: we would treat / one would treat | |
| nous | soignerions | we would treat | |
| vous | soigneriez | you would treat | |
| ils / elles | soigneraient | they would treat |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul soignerait un patient à l'hôpital.
Paul would treat a patient at the hospital.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | soigne | (that) I treat | |
| tu | soignes | (that) you treat | |
| il / elle / on | soigne | (that) he / she / it treatson: (that) we treat / one treats | |
| nous | soignions | (that) we treat | |
| vous | soigniez | (that) you treat | |
| ils / elles | soignent | (that) they treat |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul soigne un patient à l'hôpital.
It is possible that Paul treats a patient at the hospital.
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 treat; to nurse
- to look after, to take care of
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