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 blow.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | souffle | I blow | |
| tu | souffles | you blow | |
| il / elle / on | souffle | he / she / it blowson: we blow / one blows | |
| nous | soufflons | we blow | |
| vous | soufflez | you blow | |
| ils / elles | soufflent | they blow |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Le vent souffle sur la plaine.
The wind blows across the plain.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai soufflé | I blew | |
| tu | as soufflé | you blew | |
| il / elle / on | a soufflé | he / she / it blewon: we blew / one blew | |
| nous | avons soufflé | we blew | |
| vous | avez soufflé | you blew | |
| ils / elles | ont soufflé | they blew |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, le vent a soufflé sur la plaine.
Yesterday, the wind blew across the plain.
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’ | soufflais | I used to blow | |
| tu | soufflais | you used to blow | |
| il / elle / on | soufflait | he / she / it used to blowon: we used to blow / one used to blow | |
| nous | soufflions | we used to blow | |
| vous | souffliez | you used to blow | |
| ils / elles | soufflaient | they used to blow |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, le vent soufflait sur la plaine.
Back then, the wind used to blow across the plain.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | soufflerai | I will blow | |
| tu | souffleras | you will blow | |
| il / elle / on | soufflera | he / she / it will blowon: we will blow / one will blow | |
| nous | soufflerons | we will blow | |
| vous | soufflerez | you will blow | |
| ils / elles | souffleront | they will blow |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, le vent soufflera sur la plaine.
Later, the wind will blow across the plain.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | soufflerais | I would blow | |
| tu | soufflerais | you would blow | |
| il / elle / on | soufflerait | he / she / it would blowon: we would blow / one would blow | |
| nous | soufflerions | we would blow | |
| vous | souffleriez | you would blow | |
| ils / elles | souffleraient | they would blow |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Le vent soufflerait sur la plaine.
The wind would blow across the plain.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | souffle | (that) I blow | |
| tu | souffles | (that) you blow | |
| il / elle / on | souffle | (that) he / she / it blowson: (that) we blow / one blows | |
| nous | soufflions | (that) we blow | |
| vous | souffliez | (that) you blow | |
| ils / elles | soufflent | (that) they blow |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que le vent souffle sur la plaine.
It is possible that the wind blows across the plain.
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 blow
- to blow out
- to whisper
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