attester — French conjugation

to attest; to support with evidence

Frequency#1372Regular

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
jeattesteI attest
tuattestesyou attest
il/elleattestehe/she/it attests
nousattestonswe attest
vousattestezyou (pl.) attest
ils/ellesattestentthey attest

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
jeattestaiI attested
tuattestasyou attested
il/elleattestahe/she/it attested
nousattestâmeswe attested
vousattestâtesyou (pl.) attested
ils/ellesattestèrentthey attested

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
jeattestais
tuattestais
il/elleattestait
nousattestions
vousattestiez
ils/ellesattestaient

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
jeattesteraisI would attest
tuattesteraisyou would attest
il/elleattesteraithe/she/it would attest
nousattesterionswe would attest
vousattesteriezyou (pl.) would attest
ils/ellesattesteraientthey would attest

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
jeattesteraiI will attest
tuattesterasyou will attest
il/elleattesterahe/she/it will attest
nousattesteronswe will attest
vousattesterezyou (pl.) will attest
ils/ellesattesterontthey will attest

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 attestéI have attested
tutu as attestéyou have attested
il/elleil/elle a attestéhe/she/it has attested
nousnous avons attestéwe have attested
vousvous avez attestéyou (pl.) have attested
ils/ellesils/elles ont attestéthey have attested

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 attestéI had attested
tutu avais attestéyou had attested
il/elleil/elle avait attestéhe/she/it had attested
nousnous avions attestéwe had attested
vousvous aviez attestéyou (pl.) had attested
ils/ellesils/elles avaient attestéthey had attested

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 attesté
tutu aurais attesté
il/elleil/elle aurait attesté
nousnous aurions attesté
vousvous auriez attesté
ils/ellesils/elles auraient attesté

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 attestéI will have attested
tutu auras attestéyou will have attested
il/elleil/elle aura attestéhe/she/it will have attested
nousnous aurons attestéwe will have attested
vousvous aurez attestéyou (pl.) will have attested
ils/ellesils/elles auront attestéthey will have attested

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
jeatteste
tuattestes
il/elleatteste
nousattestions
vousattestiez
ils/ellesattestent

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
jeattestasse
tuattestasses
il/elleattestât
nousattestassions
vousattestassiez
ils/ellesattestassent

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
tuatteste
nousattestons
vousattestez