celer — French conjugation

to hide

Frequency#760Irregular

Indicative

Present (Présent) Irregular

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
jecèleI hide
tucèlesyou hide
il/ellecèlehe/she/it hides
nouscelonswe hide
vouscelezyou (pl.) hide
ils/ellescèlentthey hide

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
jecelaiI hid
tucelasyou hid
il/ellecelahe/she/it hid
nouscelâmeswe hid
vouscelâtesyou (pl.) hid
ils/ellescelèrentthey hid

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
jecelais
tucelais
il/ellecelait
nouscelions
vousceliez
ils/ellescelaient

Conditional (Conditionnel) Irregular

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
jecèleraisI would hide
tucèleraisyou would hide
il/ellecèleraithe/she/it would hide
nouscèlerionswe would hide
vouscèleriezyou (pl.) would hide
ils/ellescèleraientthey would hide

Future (Futur) Irregular

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
jecèleraiI will hide
tucèlerasyou will hide
il/ellecèlerahe/she/it will hide
nouscèleronswe will hide
vouscèlerezyou (pl.) will hide
ils/ellescèlerontthey will hide

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 celéI have hidden
tutu as celéyou have hidden
il/elleil/elle a celéhe/she/it has hidden
nousnous avons celéwe have hidden
vousvous avez celéyou (pl.) have hidden
ils/ellesils/elles ont celéthey have hidden

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 celéI had hidden
tutu avais celéyou had hidden
il/elleil/elle avait celéhe/she/it had hidden
nousnous avions celéwe had hidden
vousvous aviez celéyou (pl.) had hidden
ils/ellesils/elles avaient celéthey had hidden

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

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 celéI will have hidden
tutu auras celéyou will have hidden
il/elleil/elle aura celéhe/she/it will have hidden
nousnous aurons celéwe will have hidden
vousvous aurez celéyou (pl.) will have hidden
ils/ellesils/elles auront celéthey will have hidden

Subjunctive

Present subjunctive (Subjonctif présent) Irregular

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
jecèle
tucèles
il/ellecèle
nouscelions
vousceliez
ils/ellescèlent

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
jecelasse
tucelasses
il/ellecelât
nouscelassions
vouscelassiez
ils/ellescelassent

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
tucèle
nouscelons
vouscelez