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 age.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | vieillis | I age | |
| tu | vieillis | you age | |
| il / elle / on | vieillit | he / she / it ageson: we age / one ages | |
| nous | vieillissons | we age | |
| vous | vieillissez | you age | |
| ils / elles | vieillissent | they age |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Le bois vieillit lentement à l'air libre.
The wood ages slowly in the open air.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai vieilli | I aged | |
| tu | as vieilli | you aged | |
| il / elle / on | a vieilli | he / she / it agedon: we aged / one aged | |
| nous | avons vieilli | we aged | |
| vous | avez vieilli | you aged | |
| ils / elles | ont vieilli | they aged |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, le bois a vieilli lentement à l'air libre.
Yesterday, the wood aged slowly in the open air.
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’ | vieillissais | I used to age | |
| tu | vieillissais | you used to age | |
| il / elle / on | vieillissait | he / she / it used to ageon: we used to age / one used to age | |
| nous | vieillissions | we used to age | |
| vous | vieillissiez | you used to age | |
| ils / elles | vieillissaient | they used to age |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, le bois vieillissait lentement à l'air libre.
Back then, the wood used to age slowly in the open air.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | vieillirai | I will age | |
| tu | vieilliras | you will age | |
| il / elle / on | vieillira | he / she / it will ageon: we will age / one will age | |
| nous | vieillirons | we will age | |
| vous | vieillirez | you will age | |
| ils / elles | vieilliront | they will age |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, le bois vieillira lentement à l'air libre.
Later, the wood will age slowly in the open air.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | vieillirais | I would age | |
| tu | vieillirais | you would age | |
| il / elle / on | vieillirait | he / she / it would ageon: we would age / one would age | |
| nous | vieillirions | we would age | |
| vous | vieilliriez | you would age | |
| ils / elles | vieilliraient | they would age |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Le bois vieillirait lentement à l'air libre.
The wood would age slowly in the open air.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | vieillisse | (that) I age | |
| tu | vieillisses | (that) you age | |
| il / elle / on | vieillisse | (that) he / she / it ageson: (that) we age / one ages | |
| nous | vieillissions | (that) we age | |
| vous | vieillissiez | (that) you age | |
| ils / elles | vieillissent | (that) they age |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que le bois vieillisse lentement à l'air libre.
It is possible that the wood ages slowly in the open air.
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 grow old, to age
- to make (someone) look older
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