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 underline.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | souligne | I underline | |
| tu | soulignes | you underline | |
| il / elle / on | souligne | he / she / it underlineson: we underline / one underlines | |
| nous | soulignons | we underline | |
| vous | soulignez | you underline | |
| ils / elles | soulignent | they underline |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul souligne les mots importants dans le texte.
Paul underlines the important words in the text.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai souligné | I underlined | |
| tu | as souligné | you underlined | |
| il / elle / on | a souligné | he / she / it underlinedon: we underlined / one underlined | |
| nous | avons souligné | we underlined | |
| vous | avez souligné | you underlined | |
| ils / elles | ont souligné | they underlined |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a souligné les mots importants dans le texte.
Yesterday, Paul underlined the important words in the text.
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’ | soulignais | I used to underline | |
| tu | soulignais | you used to underline | |
| il / elle / on | soulignait | he / she / it used to underlineon: we used to underline / one used to underline | |
| nous | soulignions | we used to underline | |
| vous | souligniez | you used to underline | |
| ils / elles | soulignaient | they used to underline |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul soulignait les mots importants dans le texte.
Back then, Paul used to underline the important words in the text.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | soulignerai | I will underline | |
| tu | souligneras | you will underline | |
| il / elle / on | soulignera | he / she / it will underlineon: we will underline / one will underline | |
| nous | soulignerons | we will underline | |
| vous | soulignerez | you will underline | |
| ils / elles | souligneront | they will underline |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul soulignera les mots importants dans le texte.
Later, Paul will underline the important words in the text.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | soulignerais | I would underline | |
| tu | soulignerais | you would underline | |
| il / elle / on | soulignerait | he / she / it would underlineon: we would underline / one would underline | |
| nous | soulignerions | we would underline | |
| vous | souligneriez | you would underline | |
| ils / elles | souligneraient | they would underline |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul soulignerait les mots importants dans le texte.
Paul would underline the important words in the text.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | souligne | (that) I underline | |
| tu | soulignes | (that) you underline | |
| il / elle / on | souligne | (that) he / she / it underlineson: (that) we underline / one underlines | |
| nous | soulignions | (that) we underline | |
| vous | souligniez | (that) you underline | |
| ils / elles | soulignent | (that) they underline |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul souligne les mots importants dans le texte.
It is possible that Paul underlines the important words in the text.
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 underscore, to underline (draw a line under)
- to highlight, to emphasize (put emphasis on)
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