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fluentbyear

FRENCH VERB

effacer

to erase, to delete

  • #350 most used
  • Regular -er verb
  • Past participle: effacé
  • Present participle: effaçant

Conjugation

Tap any form to hear it. The part that changes is in colour.

Present

Présent · now, habits and facts

  1. je I erase
  2. tu you erase
  3. il, elle, on he/she erases
  4. nous we erase
  5. vous you erase
  6. ils, elles they erase

Past

Passé composé · finished actions

  1. je I erased
  2. tu you erased
  3. il, elle, on he/she erased
  4. nous we erased
  5. vous you erased
  6. ils, elles they erased

Imperfect

Imparfait · “used to” and “was …ing”

  1. je I used to erase
  2. tu you used to erase
  3. il, elle, on he/she used to erase
  4. nous we used to erase
  5. vous you used to erase
  6. ils, elles they used to erase

Future

Futur simple · plans; in speech, “je vais parler” is just as common

  1. je I will erase
  2. tu you will erase
  3. il, elle, on he/she will erase
  4. nous we will erase
  5. vous you will erase
  6. ils, elles they will erase

Conditional

Conditionnel · “would”, polite requests

  1. je I would erase
  2. tu you would erase
  3. il, elle, on he/she would erase
  4. nous we would erase
  5. vous you would erase
  6. ils, elles they would erase

Present subjunctive

Subjonctif présent · wishes, doubts, “il faut que …”

  1. je (that) I erase
  2. tu (that) you erase
  3. il, elle, on (that) he/she erase
  4. nous (that) we erase
  5. vous (that) you erase
  6. ils, elles (that) they erase

Imperative

Impératif · requests and orders

  1. tu erase!
  2. nous erase! (let’s)
  3. vous erase! (plural, or formal)

How to use effacer

One sentence for each tense, the way people say it.

  1. Present

    J'efface toujours mes messages après les avoir lus.

    I always delete my messages after reading them.

  2. Past

    Zut, j'ai effacé la photo par erreur !

    Damn, I deleted the photo by mistake!

  3. Imperfect

    Le prof effaçait le tableau trop vite pour nous.

    The teacher wiped the board too fast for us.

  4. Future

    On effacera toutes ces vieilles vidéos ce week-end.

    We'll delete all these old videos this weekend.

  5. Conditional

    Tu effacerais tout l'historique si tu pouvais ?

    Would you erase the whole history if you could?

  6. Present subjunctive

    Il faut que tu effaces ce numéro de ton téléphone.

    You need to delete that number from your phone.

  7. Imperative

    Efface le tableau avant que le prof arrive.

    Wipe the board before the teacher comes.

Good to know

  • Effacer le tableau is to wipe the board; effacer un message, to delete a message.

Verbs like this one

The same pattern, on other verbs: regular -er verb.