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 keep quiet about.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | tais | I keep quiet about | |
| tu | tais | you keep quiet about | |
| il / elle / on | tait | he / she / it keeps quiet abouton: we keep quiet about / one keeps quiet about | |
| nous | taisons | we keep quiet about | |
| vous | taisez | you keep quiet about | |
| ils / elles | taisent | they keep quiet about |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul tait le nom du témoin.
Paul keeps quiet about the witness's name.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai tu | I kept quiet about | |
| tu | as tu | you kept quiet about | |
| il / elle / on | a tu | he / she / it kept quiet abouton: we kept quiet about / one kept quiet about | |
| nous | avons tu | we kept quiet about | |
| vous | avez tu | you kept quiet about | |
| ils / elles | ont tu | they kept quiet about |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a tu le nom du témoin.
Yesterday, Paul kept quiet about the witness's name.
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’ | taisais | I used to keep quiet about | |
| tu | taisais | you used to keep quiet about | |
| il / elle / on | taisait | he / she / it used to keep quiet abouton: we used to keep quiet about / one used to keep quiet about | |
| nous | taisions | we used to keep quiet about | |
| vous | taisiez | you used to keep quiet about | |
| ils / elles | taisaient | they used to keep quiet about |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul taisait le nom du témoin.
Back then, Paul used to keep quiet about the witness's name.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | tairai | I will keep quiet about | |
| tu | tairas | you will keep quiet about | |
| il / elle / on | taira | he / she / it will keep quiet abouton: we will keep quiet about / one will keep quiet about | |
| nous | tairons | we will keep quiet about | |
| vous | tairez | you will keep quiet about | |
| ils / elles | tairont | they will keep quiet about |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul taira le nom du témoin.
Later, Paul will keep quiet about the witness's name.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | tairais | I would keep quiet about | |
| tu | tairais | you would keep quiet about | |
| il / elle / on | tairait | he / she / it would keep quiet abouton: we would keep quiet about / one would keep quiet about | |
| nous | tairions | we would keep quiet about | |
| vous | tairiez | you would keep quiet about | |
| ils / elles | tairaient | they would keep quiet about |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul tairait le nom du témoin.
Paul would keep quiet about the witness's name.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | taise | (that) I keep quiet about | |
| tu | taises | (that) you keep quiet about | |
| il / elle / on | taise | (that) he / she / it keeps quiet abouton: (that) we keep quiet about / one keeps quiet about | |
| nous | taisions | (that) we keep quiet about | |
| vous | taisiez | (that) you keep quiet about | |
| ils / elles | taisent | (that) they keep quiet about |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul taise le nom du témoin.
It is possible that Paul keeps quiet about the witness's name.
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 keep quiet about; to leave unsaid
- to be quiet, to be silent
- to keep (a matter) quiet, to keep secret, not to say
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