Verbe pleuvoir – to rain
Pleuvoir, meaning to rain, exists of course only in the third person singular or ‘il’ form. Because of this, I am just giving one example sentence for each of several tenses here,
but two for the present tense.
PRESENT TENSE
Il pleut beaucoup au mois de juillet. – It rains a lot in the month of July.
Il pleut depuis le matin. – It has been raining since this morning. (Notice that French uses the present tense in this construction, whereas English uses the present perfect continuous tense.)
PERFECT TENSE – PASSE COMPOSE
Il a plu toute la journée. – It rained all day.
FUTURE TENSE
Il pleuvra demain à Paris. – It will rain tomorrow in Paris.
IMPERFECT TENSE
Il pleuvait quand je me suis levé ce matin. – It was raining when I got up this morning.
CONDITIONAL TENSE
Il pleuvrait certainement si nous sortions. – It would be sure to rain if we went out.
PRESENT SUBJUNCTIVE
Je veux qu’il pleuve. – I want it to rain.
There is no imperative of pleuvoir, since it exists only in the third person singular form.
Elizabeth Allen
May 2007
