retraire — French conjugation

to retract

Frequency#883Irregular

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
jeretraisI retract
turetraisyou retract
il/elleretraithe/she/it retracts
nousretrayonswe retract
vousretrayezyou (pl.) retract
ils/ellesretraientthey retract

Imperfect (Imparfait) Irregular

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
jeretrayais
turetrayais
il/elleretrayait
nousretrayions
vousretrayiez
ils/ellesretrayaient

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
jeretrairaisI would retract
turetrairaisyou would retract
il/elleretrairaithe/she/it would retract
nousretrairionswe would retract
vousretrairiezyou (pl.) would retract
ils/ellesretrairaientthey would retract

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
jeretrairaiI will retract
turetrairasyou will retract
il/elleretrairahe/she/it will retract
nousretraironswe will retract
vousretrairezyou (pl.) will retract
ils/ellesretrairontthey will retract

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 retraitI have retracted
tutu as retraityou have retracted
il/elleil/elle a retraithe/she/it has retracted
nousnous avons retraitwe have retracted
vousvous avez retraityou (pl.) have retracted
ils/ellesils/elles ont retraitthey have retracted

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 retraitI had retracted
tutu avais retraityou had retracted
il/elleil/elle avait retraithe/she/it had retracted
nousnous avions retraitwe had retracted
vousvous aviez retraityou (pl.) had retracted
ils/ellesils/elles avaient retraitthey had retracted

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

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 retraitI will have retracted
tutu auras retraityou will have retracted
il/elleil/elle aura retraithe/she/it will have retracted
nousnous aurons retraitwe will have retracted
vousvous aurez retraityou (pl.) will have retracted
ils/ellesils/elles auront retraitthey will have retracted

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
jeretraie
turetraies
il/elleretraie
nousretrayions
vousretrayiez
ils/ellesretraient

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
turetrais
nousretrayons
vousretrayez