affairer — French conjugation

to occupy

Frequency#227Regular

Indicative

Present (Présent) Regular

Use the présent for habits, what is true now, and what is about to happen soon. A single set of endings covers what English often splits into “I speak” and “I am speaking”.

Elle parle arabe et français.

PronounFrenchEnglish
jeaffaireI occupy
tuaffairesyou occupy
il/elleaffairehe/she/it occupies
nousaffaironswe occupy
vousaffairezyou (pl.) occupy
ils/ellesaffairentthey occupy

Simple past (Passé simple) Regular

The passé simple narrates completed past events in a literary or very formal style. In everyday conversation people use the passé composé instead, so you mostly meet this form in books and journalism.

Ils virent le roi s'approcher.

PronounFrenchEnglish
jeaffairaiI occupied
tuaffairasyou occupied
il/elleaffairahe/she/it occupied
nousaffairâmeswe occupied
vousaffairâtesyou (pl.) occupied
ils/ellesaffairèrentthey occupied

Imperfect (Imparfait) Regular

The imparfait describes ongoing or repeated past actions and sets the background — how things were, what used to happen, weather, feelings. The passé composé, by contrast, marks single completed events.

Quand j'étais petit, j'allais souvent à la piscine.

PronounFrench
jeaffairais
tuaffairais
il/elleaffairait
nousaffairions
vousaffairiez
ils/ellesaffairaient

Conditional (Conditionnel) Regular

The conditionnel is for polite questions and requests, “would”-type hypotheticals, and what someone said would happen. It is also the usual consequent clause in si + imparfait → conditionnel patterns.

Pourriez-vous répéter, s'il vous plaît ?

PronounFrenchEnglish
jeaffaireraisI would occupy
tuaffaireraisyou would occupy
il/elleaffaireraithe/she/it would occupy
nousaffairerionswe would occupy
vousaffaireriezyou (pl.) would occupy
ils/ellesaffaireraientthey would occupy

Future (Futur) Regular

The futur is for future plans and objective predictions. In speech, aller + infinitive is often clearer for the immediate future, while the simple future is common for facts further ahead or in writing.

Demain, nous dînerons chez eux.

PronounFrenchEnglish
jeaffaireraiI will occupy
tuaffairerasyou will occupy
il/elleaffairerahe/she/it will occupy
nousaffaireronswe will occupy
vousaffairerezyou (pl.) will occupy
ils/ellesaffairerontthey will occupy

Present perfect (Passé composé) Regular

The passé composé is the main spoken past for completed, bounded actions (often with a time adverb). Use avoir with most verbs; être is required for a fixed group of motion/inchange and all pronominal verbs, with participle agreement when necessary.

Elle est venue tôt, puis elle a téléphoné.

PronounFrenchEnglish
jej'ai affairéI have occupied
tutu as affairéyou have occupied
il/elleil/elle a affairéhe/she/it has occupied
nousnous avons affairéwe have occupied
vousvous avez affairéyou (pl.) have occupied
ils/ellesils/elles ont affairéthey have occupied

Pluperfect (Plus-que-parfait) Regular

The plus-que-parfait is the “earlier past”: one action was already over before another past moment. It answers “had already” when a story is anchored in a past time.

Déjà, il avait fini quand je suis arrivé.

PronounFrenchEnglish
jej'avais affairéI had occupied
tutu avais affairéyou had occupied
il/elleil/elle avait affairéhe/she/it had occupied
nousnous avions affairéwe had occupied
vousvous aviez affairéyou (pl.) had occupied
ils/ellesils/elles avaient affairéthey had occupied

Conditional perfect (Conditionnel passé) Regular

The conditionnel passé states what would have been true, plans that failed, and unreal past if-clauses (often with si + plus-que-parfait in the apodose).

J'aurais dit oui, mais c'était impossible.

PronounFrench
jej'aurais affairé
tutu aurais affairé
il/elleil/elle aurait affairé
nousnous aurions affairé
vousvous auriez affairé
ils/ellesils/elles auraient affairé

Future perfect (Futur antérieur) Regular

The futur antérieur marks an action that will be finished before a later future moment (by then I will have…). It can also suggest a conjecture about a recent past fact in formal or literary use.

D'ici samedi, j'aurai lu le rapport.

PronounFrenchEnglish
jej'aurai affairéI will have occupied
tutu auras affairéyou will have occupied
il/elleil/elle aura affairéhe/she/it will have occupied
nousnous aurons affairéwe will have occupied
vousvous aurez affairéyou (pl.) will have occupied
ils/ellesils/elles auront affairéthey will have occupied

Subjunctive

Present subjunctive (Subjonctif présent) Regular

The present subjunctive appears in subordinate clauses after desire, doubt, fear, need, and many impersonals, usually when the subject of the subordinate is different. Learn common triggers: il faut que, je veux que, je doute que…

Il faut qu'il parte avant midi.

PronounFrench
jeaffaire
tuaffaires
il/elleaffaire
nousaffairions
vousaffairiez
ils/ellesaffairent

Imperfect subjunctive (Subjonctif imparfait) Regular

The imparfait du subjonctif is a literary and formal past subjunctive. In modern speech, the present subjunctive usually replaces it for the same meaning.

Bien qu'il fût fatigué, il continua.

PronounFrench
jeaffairasse
tuaffairasses
il/elleaffairât
nousaffairassions
vousaffairassiez
ils/ellesaffairassent

Other forms

Imperative (Impératif) Regular

The imperative is for direct orders and advice to tu, nous, and vous. For many -er verbs, the tu form drops the final -s of the present (parle!); negatives use the subjunctive-like forms in practice.

Fermons la porte, s'il vous plaît !

PronounFrench
tuaffaire
nousaffairons
vousaffairez