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 aim.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | vise | I aim | |
| tu | vises | you aim | |
| il / elle / on | vise | he / she / it aimson: we aim / one aims | |
| nous | visons | we aim | |
| vous | visez | you aim | |
| ils / elles | visent | they aim |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul vise le centre de la cible.
Paul aims at the centre of the target.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai visé | I aimed | |
| tu | as visé | you aimed | |
| il / elle / on | a visé | he / she / it aimedon: we aimed / one aimed | |
| nous | avons visé | we aimed | |
| vous | avez visé | you aimed | |
| ils / elles | ont visé | they aimed |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a visé le centre de la cible.
Yesterday, Paul aimed at the centre of the target.
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’ | visais | I used to aim | |
| tu | visais | you used to aim | |
| il / elle / on | visait | he / she / it used to aimon: we used to aim / one used to aim | |
| nous | visions | we used to aim | |
| vous | visiez | you used to aim | |
| ils / elles | visaient | they used to aim |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul visait le centre de la cible.
Back then, Paul used to aim at the centre of the target.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | viserai | I will aim | |
| tu | viseras | you will aim | |
| il / elle / on | visera | he / she / it will aimon: we will aim / one will aim | |
| nous | viserons | we will aim | |
| vous | viserez | you will aim | |
| ils / elles | viseront | they will aim |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul visera le centre de la cible.
Later, Paul will aim at the centre of the target.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | viserais | I would aim | |
| tu | viserais | you would aim | |
| il / elle / on | viserait | he / she / it would aimon: we would aim / one would aim | |
| nous | viserions | we would aim | |
| vous | viseriez | you would aim | |
| ils / elles | viseraient | they would aim |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul viserait le centre de la cible.
Paul would aim at the centre of the target.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | vise | (that) I aim | |
| tu | vises | (that) you aim | |
| il / elle / on | vise | (that) he / she / it aimson: (that) we aim / one aims | |
| nous | visions | (that) we aim | |
| vous | visiez | (that) you aim | |
| ils / elles | visent | (that) they aim |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul vise le centre de la cible.
It is possible that Paul aims at the centre of the target.
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 aim, to target
- to watch, to stare
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