court-circuiter — French conjugation

to short-circuit

Frequency#1269Regular

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
jecourt-circuiteI short-circuit
tucourt-circuitesyou short-circuit
il/ellecourt-circuitehe/she/it short-circuits
nouscourt-circuitonswe short-circuit
vouscourt-circuitezyou (pl.) short-circuit
ils/ellescourt-circuitentthey short-circuit

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
jecourt-circuitaiI short-circuited
tucourt-circuitasyou short-circuited
il/ellecourt-circuitahe/she/it short-circuited
nouscourt-circuitâmeswe short-circuited
vouscourt-circuitâtesyou (pl.) short-circuited
ils/ellescourt-circuitèrentthey short-circuited

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
jecourt-circuitais
tucourt-circuitais
il/ellecourt-circuitait
nouscourt-circuitions
vouscourt-circuitiez
ils/ellescourt-circuitaient

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
jecourt-circuiteraisI would short-circuit
tucourt-circuiteraisyou would short-circuit
il/ellecourt-circuiteraithe/she/it would short-circuit
nouscourt-circuiterionswe would short-circuit
vouscourt-circuiteriezyou (pl.) would short-circuit
ils/ellescourt-circuiteraientthey would short-circuit

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
jecourt-circuiteraiI will short-circuit
tucourt-circuiterasyou will short-circuit
il/ellecourt-circuiterahe/she/it will short-circuit
nouscourt-circuiteronswe will short-circuit
vouscourt-circuiterezyou (pl.) will short-circuit
ils/ellescourt-circuiterontthey will short-circuit

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 court-circuitéI have short-circuited
tutu as court-circuitéyou have short-circuited
il/elleil/elle a court-circuitéhe/she/it has short-circuited
nousnous avons court-circuitéwe have short-circuited
vousvous avez court-circuitéyou (pl.) have short-circuited
ils/ellesils/elles ont court-circuitéthey have short-circuited

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 court-circuitéI had short-circuited
tutu avais court-circuitéyou had short-circuited
il/elleil/elle avait court-circuitéhe/she/it had short-circuited
nousnous avions court-circuitéwe had short-circuited
vousvous aviez court-circuitéyou (pl.) had short-circuited
ils/ellesils/elles avaient court-circuitéthey had short-circuited

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 court-circuité
tutu aurais court-circuité
il/elleil/elle aurait court-circuité
nousnous aurions court-circuité
vousvous auriez court-circuité
ils/ellesils/elles auraient court-circuité

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 court-circuitéI will have short-circuited
tutu auras court-circuitéyou will have short-circuited
il/elleil/elle aura court-circuitéhe/she/it will have short-circuited
nousnous aurons court-circuitéwe will have short-circuited
vousvous aurez court-circuitéyou (pl.) will have short-circuited
ils/ellesils/elles auront court-circuitéthey will have short-circuited

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
jecourt-circuite
tucourt-circuites
il/ellecourt-circuite
nouscourt-circuitions
vouscourt-circuitiez
ils/ellescourt-circuitent

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
jecourt-circuitasse
tucourt-circuitasses
il/ellecourt-circuitât
nouscourt-circuitassions
vouscourt-circuitassiez
ils/ellescourt-circuitassent

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
tucourt-circuite
nouscourt-circuitons
vouscourt-circuitez