décoller — French conjugation

to take off

Frequency#936Regular

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
jedécolleI take off
tudécollesyou take off
il/elledécollehe/she/it takes off
nousdécollonswe take off
vousdécollezyou (pl.) take off
ils/ellesdécollentthey take off

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
jedécollaiI took off
tudécollasyou took off
il/elledécollahe/she/it took off
nousdécollâmeswe took off
vousdécollâtesyou (pl.) took off
ils/ellesdécollèrentthey took off

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
jedécollais
tudécollais
il/elledécollait
nousdécollions
vousdécolliez
ils/ellesdécollaient

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
jedécolleraisI would take off
tudécolleraisyou would take off
il/elledécolleraithe/she/it would take off
nousdécollerionswe would take off
vousdécolleriezyou (pl.) would take off
ils/ellesdécolleraientthey would take off

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
jedécolleraiI will take off
tudécollerasyou will take off
il/elledécollerahe/she/it will take off
nousdécolleronswe will take off
vousdécollerezyou (pl.) will take off
ils/ellesdécollerontthey will take off

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 décolléI have taken off
tutu as décolléyou have taken off
il/elleil/elle a décolléhe/she/it has taken off
nousnous avons décolléwe have taken off
vousvous avez décolléyou (pl.) have taken off
ils/ellesils/elles ont décolléthey have taken off

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 décolléI had taken off
tutu avais décolléyou had taken off
il/elleil/elle avait décolléhe/she/it had taken off
nousnous avions décolléwe had taken off
vousvous aviez décolléyou (pl.) had taken off
ils/ellesils/elles avaient décolléthey had taken off

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

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 décolléI will have taken off
tutu auras décolléyou will have taken off
il/elleil/elle aura décolléhe/she/it will have taken off
nousnous aurons décolléwe will have taken off
vousvous aurez décolléyou (pl.) will have taken off
ils/ellesils/elles auront décolléthey will have taken off

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
jedécolle
tudécolles
il/elledécolle
nousdécollions
vousdécolliez
ils/ellesdécollent

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
jedécollasse
tudécollasses
il/elledécollât
nousdécollassions
vousdécollassiez
ils/ellesdécollassent

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
tudécolle
nousdécollons
vousdécollez