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 drag.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | traîne | I drag | |
| tu | traînes | you drag | |
| il / elle / on | traîne | he / she / it dragson: we drag / one drags | |
| nous | traînons | we drag | |
| vous | traînez | you drag | |
| ils / elles | traînent | they drag |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul traîne une lourde valise derrière lui.
Paul drags a heavy suitcase behind him.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai traîné | I dragged | |
| tu | as traîné | you dragged | |
| il / elle / on | a traîné | he / she / it draggedon: we dragged / one dragged | |
| nous | avons traîné | we dragged | |
| vous | avez traîné | you dragged | |
| ils / elles | ont traîné | they dragged |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a traîné une lourde valise derrière lui.
Yesterday, Paul dragged a heavy suitcase behind him.
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’ | traînais | I used to drag | |
| tu | traînais | you used to drag | |
| il / elle / on | traînait | he / she / it used to dragon: we used to drag / one used to drag | |
| nous | traînions | we used to drag | |
| vous | traîniez | you used to drag | |
| ils / elles | traînaient | they used to drag |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul traînait une lourde valise derrière lui.
Back then, Paul used to drag a heavy suitcase behind him.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | traînerai | I will drag | |
| tu | traîneras | you will drag | |
| il / elle / on | traînera | he / she / it will dragon: we will drag / one will drag | |
| nous | traînerons | we will drag | |
| vous | traînerez | you will drag | |
| ils / elles | traîneront | they will drag |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul traînera une lourde valise derrière lui.
Later, Paul will drag a heavy suitcase behind him.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | traînerais | I would drag | |
| tu | traînerais | you would drag | |
| il / elle / on | traînerait | he / she / it would dragon: we would drag / one would drag | |
| nous | traînerions | we would drag | |
| vous | traîneriez | you would drag | |
| ils / elles | traîneraient | they would drag |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul traînerait une lourde valise derrière lui.
Paul would drag a heavy suitcase behind him.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | traîne | (that) I drag | |
| tu | traînes | (that) you drag | |
| il / elle / on | traîne | (that) he / she / it dragson: (that) we drag / one drags | |
| nous | traînions | (that) we drag | |
| vous | traîniez | (that) you drag | |
| ils / elles | traînent | (that) they drag |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul traîne une lourde valise derrière lui.
It is possible that Paul drags a heavy suitcase behind him.
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 pull, drag
- to bring (something bad)
- to suffer (from), to linger
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