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 substitute.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | substitue | I substitute | |
| tu | substitues | you substitute | |
| il / elle / on | substitue | he / she / it substituteson: we substitute / one substitutes | |
| nous | substituons | we substitute | |
| vous | substituez | you substitute | |
| ils / elles | substituent | they substitute |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul substitue du miel au sucre.
Paul substitutes honey for sugar.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai substitué | I substituted | |
| tu | as substitué | you substituted | |
| il / elle / on | a substitué | he / she / it substitutedon: we substituted / one substituted | |
| nous | avons substitué | we substituted | |
| vous | avez substitué | you substituted | |
| ils / elles | ont substitué | they substituted |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a substitué du miel au sucre.
Yesterday, Paul substituted honey for sugar.
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’ | substituais | I used to substitute | |
| tu | substituais | you used to substitute | |
| il / elle / on | substituait | he / she / it used to substituteon: we used to substitute / one used to substitute | |
| nous | substituions | we used to substitute | |
| vous | substituiez | you used to substitute | |
| ils / elles | substituaient | they used to substitute |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul substituait du miel au sucre.
Back then, Paul used to substitute honey for sugar.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | substituerai | I will substitute | |
| tu | substitueras | you will substitute | |
| il / elle / on | substituera | he / she / it will substituteon: we will substitute / one will substitute | |
| nous | substituerons | we will substitute | |
| vous | substituerez | you will substitute | |
| ils / elles | substitueront | they will substitute |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul substituera du miel au sucre.
Later, Paul will substitute honey for sugar.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | substituerais | I would substitute | |
| tu | substituerais | you would substitute | |
| il / elle / on | substituerait | he / she / it would substituteon: we would substitute / one would substitute | |
| nous | substituerions | we would substitute | |
| vous | substitueriez | you would substitute | |
| ils / elles | substitueraient | they would substitute |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul substituerait du miel au sucre.
Paul would substitute honey for sugar.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | substitue | (that) I substitute | |
| tu | substitues | (that) you substitute | |
| il / elle / on | substitue | (that) he / she / it substituteson: (that) we substitute / one substitutes | |
| nous | substituions | (that) we substitute | |
| vous | substituiez | (that) you substitute | |
| ils / elles | substituent | (that) they substitute |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul substitue du miel au sucre.
It is possible that Paul substitutes honey for sugar.
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 substitute
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