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 sort.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | trie | I sort | |
| tu | tries | you sort | |
| il / elle / on | trie | he / she / it sortson: we sort / one sorts | |
| nous | trions | we sort | |
| vous | triez | you sort | |
| ils / elles | trient | they sort |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul trie les déchets pour le recyclage.
Paul sorts the waste for recycling.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai trié | I sorted | |
| tu | as trié | you sorted | |
| il / elle / on | a trié | he / she / it sortedon: we sorted / one sorted | |
| nous | avons trié | we sorted | |
| vous | avez trié | you sorted | |
| ils / elles | ont trié | they sorted |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a trié les déchets pour le recyclage.
Yesterday, Paul sorted the waste for recycling.
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’ | triais | I used to sort | |
| tu | triais | you used to sort | |
| il / elle / on | triait | he / she / it used to sorton: we used to sort / one used to sort | |
| nous | triions | we used to sort | |
| vous | triiez | you used to sort | |
| ils / elles | triaient | they used to sort |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul triait les déchets pour le recyclage.
Back then, Paul used to sort the waste for recycling.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | trierai | I will sort | |
| tu | trieras | you will sort | |
| il / elle / on | triera | he / she / it will sorton: we will sort / one will sort | |
| nous | trierons | we will sort | |
| vous | trierez | you will sort | |
| ils / elles | trieront | they will sort |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul triera les déchets pour le recyclage.
Later, Paul will sort the waste for recycling.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | trierais | I would sort | |
| tu | trierais | you would sort | |
| il / elle / on | trierait | he / she / it would sorton: we would sort / one would sort | |
| nous | trierions | we would sort | |
| vous | trieriez | you would sort | |
| ils / elles | trieraient | they would sort |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul trierait les déchets pour le recyclage.
Paul would sort the waste for recycling.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | trie | (that) I sort | |
| tu | tries | (that) you sort | |
| il / elle / on | trie | (that) he / she / it sortson: (that) we sort / one sorts | |
| nous | triions | (that) we sort | |
| vous | triiez | (that) you sort | |
| ils / elles | trient | (that) they sort |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul trie les déchets pour le recyclage.
It is possible that Paul sorts the waste for recycling.
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 sort, to sort out
- to grade; to calibrate
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