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 succeed.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | succède | I succeed | |
| tu | succèdes | you succeed | |
| il / elle / on | succède | he / she / it succeedson: we succeed / one succeeds | |
| nous | succédons | we succeed | |
| vous | succédez | you succeed | |
| ils / elles | succèdent | they succeed |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul succède à son père à la tête de l'entreprise.
Paul succeeds his father as head of the company.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai succédé | I succeeded | |
| tu | as succédé | you succeeded | |
| il / elle / on | a succédé | he / she / it succeededon: we succeeded / one succeeded | |
| nous | avons succédé | we succeeded | |
| vous | avez succédé | you succeeded | |
| ils / elles | ont succédé | they succeeded |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a succédé à son père à la tête de l'entreprise.
Yesterday, Paul succeeded his father as head of the company.
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’ | succédais | I used to succeed | |
| tu | succédais | you used to succeed | |
| il / elle / on | succédait | he / she / it used to succeedon: we used to succeed / one used to succeed | |
| nous | succédions | we used to succeed | |
| vous | succédiez | you used to succeed | |
| ils / elles | succédaient | they used to succeed |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul succédait à son père à la tête de l'entreprise.
Back then, Paul used to succeed his father as head of the company.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | succèderai / succéderai | I will succeed | |
| tu | succèderas / succéderas | you will succeed | |
| il / elle / on | succèdera / succédera | he / she / it will succeedon: we will succeed / one will succeed | |
| nous | succèderons / succéderons | we will succeed | |
| vous | succèderez / succéderez | you will succeed | |
| ils / elles | succèderont / succéderont | they will succeed |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul succèdera à son père à la tête de l'entreprise.
Later, Paul will succeed his father as head of the company.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | succèderais / succéderais | I would succeed | |
| tu | succèderais / succéderais | you would succeed | |
| il / elle / on | succèderait / succéderait | he / she / it would succeedon: we would succeed / one would succeed | |
| nous | succèderions / succéderions | we would succeed | |
| vous | succèderiez / succéderiez | you would succeed | |
| ils / elles | succèderaient / succéderaient | they would succeed |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul succèderait à son père à la tête de l'entreprise.
Paul would succeed his father as head of the company.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | succède | (that) I succeed | |
| tu | succèdes | (that) you succeed | |
| il / elle / on | succède | (that) he / she / it succeedson: (that) we succeed / one succeeds | |
| nous | succédions | (that) we succeed | |
| vous | succédiez | (that) you succeed | |
| ils / elles | succèdent | (that) they succeed |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul succède à son père à la tête de l'entreprise.
It is possible that Paul succeeds his father as head of the company.
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 succeed (to follow in order)
- to inherit by right of kinship
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