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 suck.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | suce | I suck | |
| tu | suces | you suck | |
| il / elle / on | suce | he / she / it suckson: we suck / one sucks | |
| nous | suçons | we suck | |
| vous | sucez | you suck | |
| ils / elles | sucent | they suck |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul suce un bonbon à la menthe.
Paul sucks a mint sweet.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai sucé | I sucked | |
| tu | as sucé | you sucked | |
| il / elle / on | a sucé | he / she / it suckedon: we sucked / one sucked | |
| nous | avons sucé | we sucked | |
| vous | avez sucé | you sucked | |
| ils / elles | ont sucé | they sucked |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a sucé un bonbon à la menthe.
Yesterday, Paul sucked a mint sweet.
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’ | suçais | I used to suck | |
| tu | suçais | you used to suck | |
| il / elle / on | suçait | he / she / it used to suckon: we used to suck / one used to suck | |
| nous | sucions | we used to suck | |
| vous | suciez | you used to suck | |
| ils / elles | suçaient | they used to suck |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul suçait un bonbon à la menthe.
Back then, Paul used to suck a mint sweet.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | sucerai | I will suck | |
| tu | suceras | you will suck | |
| il / elle / on | sucera | he / she / it will suckon: we will suck / one will suck | |
| nous | sucerons | we will suck | |
| vous | sucerez | you will suck | |
| ils / elles | suceront | they will suck |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul sucera un bonbon à la menthe.
Later, Paul will suck a mint sweet.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | sucerais | I would suck | |
| tu | sucerais | you would suck | |
| il / elle / on | sucerait | he / she / it would suckon: we would suck / one would suck | |
| nous | sucerions | we would suck | |
| vous | suceriez | you would suck | |
| ils / elles | suceraient | they would suck |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul sucerait un bonbon à la menthe.
Paul would suck a mint sweet.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | suce | (that) I suck | |
| tu | suces | (that) you suck | |
| il / elle / on | suce | (that) he / she / it suckson: (that) we suck / one sucks | |
| nous | sucions | (that) we suck | |
| vous | suciez | (that) you suck | |
| ils / elles | sucent | (that) they suck |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul suce un bonbon à la menthe.
It is possible that Paul sucks a mint sweet.
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 suck
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