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 draw.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | trace | I draw | |
| tu | traces | you draw | |
| il / elle / on | trace | he / she / it drawson: we draw / one draws | |
| nous | traçons | we draw | |
| vous | tracez | you draw | |
| ils / elles | tracent | they draw |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul trace un cercle sur le papier.
Paul draws a circle on the paper.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai tracé | I drew | |
| tu | as tracé | you drew | |
| il / elle / on | a tracé | he / she / it drewon: we drew / one drew | |
| nous | avons tracé | we drew | |
| vous | avez tracé | you drew | |
| ils / elles | ont tracé | they drew |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a tracé un cercle sur le papier.
Yesterday, Paul drew a circle on the paper.
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’ | traçais | I used to draw | |
| tu | traçais | you used to draw | |
| il / elle / on | traçait | he / she / it used to drawon: we used to draw / one used to draw | |
| nous | tracions | we used to draw | |
| vous | traciez | you used to draw | |
| ils / elles | traçaient | they used to draw |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul traçait un cercle sur le papier.
Back then, Paul used to draw a circle on the paper.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | tracerai | I will draw | |
| tu | traceras | you will draw | |
| il / elle / on | tracera | he / she / it will drawon: we will draw / one will draw | |
| nous | tracerons | we will draw | |
| vous | tracerez | you will draw | |
| ils / elles | traceront | they will draw |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul tracera un cercle sur le papier.
Later, Paul will draw a circle on the paper.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | tracerais | I would draw | |
| tu | tracerais | you would draw | |
| il / elle / on | tracerait | he / she / it would drawon: we would draw / one would draw | |
| nous | tracerions | we would draw | |
| vous | traceriez | you would draw | |
| ils / elles | traceraient | they would draw |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul tracerait un cercle sur le papier.
Paul would draw a circle on the paper.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | trace | (that) I draw | |
| tu | traces | (that) you draw | |
| il / elle / on | trace | (that) he / she / it drawson: (that) we draw / one draws | |
| nous | tracions | (that) we draw | |
| vous | traciez | (that) you draw | |
| ils / elles | tracent | (that) they draw |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul trace un cercle sur le papier.
It is possible that Paul draws a circle on the paper.
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 draw or plot (a diagram), to trace out
- to rule (a line)
- to buck up, hurry up
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