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 wear down.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | use | I wear down | |
| tu | uses | you wear down | |
| il / elle / on | use | he / she / it wears downon: we wear down / one wears down | |
| nous | usons | we wear down | |
| vous | usez | you wear down | |
| ils / elles | usent | they wear down |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Le frottement use la surface du bois.
Friction wears down the surface of the wood.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai usé | I wore down | |
| tu | as usé | you wore down | |
| il / elle / on | a usé | he / she / it wore downon: we wore down / one wore down | |
| nous | avons usé | we wore down | |
| vous | avez usé | you wore down | |
| ils / elles | ont usé | they wore down |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, le frottement a usé la surface du bois.
Yesterday, friction wore down the surface of the wood.
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’ | usais | I used to wear down | |
| tu | usais | you used to wear down | |
| il / elle / on | usait | he / she / it used to wear downon: we used to wear down / one used to wear down | |
| nous | usions | we used to wear down | |
| vous | usiez | you used to wear down | |
| ils / elles | usaient | they used to wear down |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, le frottement usait la surface du bois.
Back then, friction used to wear down the surface of the wood.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | userai | I will wear down | |
| tu | useras | you will wear down | |
| il / elle / on | usera | he / she / it will wear downon: we will wear down / one will wear down | |
| nous | userons | we will wear down | |
| vous | userez | you will wear down | |
| ils / elles | useront | they will wear down |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, le frottement usera la surface du bois.
Later, friction will wear down the surface of the wood.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | userais | I would wear down | |
| tu | userais | you would wear down | |
| il / elle / on | userait | he / she / it would wear downon: we would wear down / one would wear down | |
| nous | userions | we would wear down | |
| vous | useriez | you would wear down | |
| ils / elles | useraient | they would wear down |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Le frottement userait la surface du bois.
Friction would wear down the surface of the wood.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | use | (that) I wear down | |
| tu | uses | (that) you wear down | |
| il / elle / on | use | (that) he / she / it wears downon: (that) we wear down / one wears down | |
| nous | usions | (that) we wear down | |
| vous | usiez | (that) you wear down | |
| ils / elles | usent | (that) they wear down |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que le frottement use la surface du bois.
It is possible that friction wears down the surface of the wood.
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 wear, wear down, wear off, wear out, grind down, run in
- to use (used with de)
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