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 turn.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | vire | I turn | |
| tu | vires | you turn | |
| il / elle / on | vire | he / she / it turnson: we turn / one turns | |
| nous | virons | we turn | |
| vous | virez | you turn | |
| ils / elles | virent | they turn |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Le bateau vire à droite près du port.
The boat turns right near the harbour.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai viré | I turned | |
| tu | as viré | you turned | |
| il / elle / on | a viré | he / she / it turnedon: we turned / one turned | |
| nous | avons viré | we turned | |
| vous | avez viré | you turned | |
| ils / elles | ont viré | they turned |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, le bateau a viré à droite près du port.
Yesterday, the boat turned right near the harbour.
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’ | virais | I used to turn | |
| tu | virais | you used to turn | |
| il / elle / on | virait | he / she / it used to turnon: we used to turn / one used to turn | |
| nous | virions | we used to turn | |
| vous | viriez | you used to turn | |
| ils / elles | viraient | they used to turn |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, le bateau virait à droite près du port.
Back then, the boat used to turn right near the harbour.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | virerai | I will turn | |
| tu | vireras | you will turn | |
| il / elle / on | virera | he / she / it will turnon: we will turn / one will turn | |
| nous | virerons | we will turn | |
| vous | virerez | you will turn | |
| ils / elles | vireront | they will turn |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, le bateau virera à droite près du port.
Later, the boat will turn right near the harbour.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | virerais | I would turn | |
| tu | virerais | you would turn | |
| il / elle / on | virerait | he / she / it would turnon: we would turn / one would turn | |
| nous | virerions | we would turn | |
| vous | vireriez | you would turn | |
| ils / elles | vireraient | they would turn |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Le bateau virerait à droite près du port.
The boat would turn right near the harbour.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | vire | (that) I turn | |
| tu | vires | (that) you turn | |
| il / elle / on | vire | (that) he / she / it turnson: (that) we turn / one turns | |
| nous | virions | (that) we turn | |
| vous | viriez | (that) you turn | |
| ils / elles | virent | (that) they turn |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que le bateau vire à droite près du port.
It is possible that the boat turns right near the harbour.
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 bear, veer (change direction slightly)
- to turn into, become
- to transfer (money, from one account to another)
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