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 spoil.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | spoile | I spoil | |
| tu | spoiles | you spoil | |
| il / elle / on | spoile | he / she / it spoilson: we spoil / one spoils | |
| nous | spoilons | we spoil | |
| vous | spoilez | you spoil | |
| ils / elles | spoilent | they spoil |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul spoile la fin du film.
Paul spoils the ending of the film.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai spoilé | I spoiled | |
| tu | as spoilé | you spoiled | |
| il / elle / on | a spoilé | he / she / it spoiledon: we spoiled / one spoiled | |
| nous | avons spoilé | we spoiled | |
| vous | avez spoilé | you spoiled | |
| ils / elles | ont spoilé | they spoiled |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a spoilé la fin du film.
Yesterday, Paul spoiled the ending of the film.
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’ | spoilais | I used to spoil | |
| tu | spoilais | you used to spoil | |
| il / elle / on | spoilait | he / she / it used to spoilon: we used to spoil / one used to spoil | |
| nous | spoilions | we used to spoil | |
| vous | spoiliez | you used to spoil | |
| ils / elles | spoilaient | they used to spoil |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul spoilait la fin du film.
Back then, Paul used to spoil the ending of the film.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | spoilerai | I will spoil | |
| tu | spoileras | you will spoil | |
| il / elle / on | spoilera | he / she / it will spoilon: we will spoil / one will spoil | |
| nous | spoilerons | we will spoil | |
| vous | spoilerez | you will spoil | |
| ils / elles | spoileront | they will spoil |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul spoilera la fin du film.
Later, Paul will spoil the ending of the film.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | spoilerais | I would spoil | |
| tu | spoilerais | you would spoil | |
| il / elle / on | spoilerait | he / she / it would spoilon: we would spoil / one would spoil | |
| nous | spoilerions | we would spoil | |
| vous | spoileriez | you would spoil | |
| ils / elles | spoileraient | they would spoil |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul spoilerait la fin du film.
Paul would spoil the ending of the film.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | spoile | (that) I spoil | |
| tu | spoiles | (that) you spoil | |
| il / elle / on | spoile | (that) he / she / it spoilson: (that) we spoil / one spoils | |
| nous | spoilions | (that) we spoil | |
| vous | spoiliez | (that) you spoil | |
| ils / elles | spoilent | (that) they spoil |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul spoile la fin du film.
It is possible that Paul spoils the ending of the film.
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 spoil (a story, ending, etc.)
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