Traduire is "to translate," and it belongs to a tight family of -uire verbs that all conjugate the same way: conduire (drive), traduire (translate), produire (produce), construire (build), détruire (destroy), réduire (reduce), introduire (introduce), séduire (seduce), cuire (cook), nuire (harm). Learn one and you learn the pattern for all of them — the only verb in the family that breaks the participle rule is nuire, whose participe passé is the odd short form nui (no -t).
The conjugation has two distinguishing features. First, the present singular is built on the stem tradui- (je traduis, tu traduis, il traduit), while the plural inserts an -s- before the ending: nous traduisons, vous traduisez, ils traduisent. Second, the participe passé ends in -uit (traduit) — short, irregular, and identical in shape to the 3rd-person singular present. Traduire takes avoir in compound tenses (j'ai traduit).
This page covers every paradigm, the standard prepositional frame traduire X de Y en Z (translate X from Y into Z), the legal idiom traduire en justice (to bring before a court), and how to navigate the traduire / interpréter distinction that English speakers often blur.
The conjugation pattern
The present is irregular but predictable once you have learned one -uire verb. The plural forms insert an -s- (tradui+s+ons, etc.), and the participe passé is traduit. Everywhere else, the stem is tradui- with regular endings.
Présent de l'indicatif
| Person | Form | Pronunciation |
|---|---|---|
| je | traduis | /tʁa.dɥi/ |
| tu | traduis | /tʁa.dɥi/ |
| il / elle / on | traduit | /tʁa.dɥi/ |
| nous | traduisons | /tʁa.dɥi.zɔ̃/ |
| vous | traduisez | /tʁa.dɥi.ze/ |
| ils / elles | traduisent | /tʁa.dɥiz/ |
The three singular forms are all pronounced /tʁa.dɥi/ — only the spelling differs. The -s- in the plural is audible (/z/) and is what disambiguates ils traduisent from the singular il traduit in speech.
Je traduis ce roman depuis six mois et je n'ai pas fini.
I've been translating this novel for six months and I'm not done.
Tu traduis du français vers l'anglais ou l'inverse ?
Do you translate from French into English or the other way around?
Ils traduisent tous les documents officiels en quatre langues.
They translate all the official documents into four languages.
Imparfait
Built on the plural stem traduis- (from nous traduisons) plus regular endings.
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| je | traduisais |
| tu | traduisais |
| il / elle / on | traduisait |
| nous | traduisions |
| vous | traduisiez |
| ils / elles | traduisaient |
Quand j'étais étudiant, je traduisais des articles pour gagner ma vie.
When I was a student, I used to translate articles for a living.
Elle traduisait au fur et à mesure que l'orateur parlait.
She was translating as the speaker was talking.
Passé simple (literary)
Stem traduisi-. Used in formal writing only.
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| je | traduisis |
| tu | traduisis |
| il / elle / on | traduisit |
| nous | traduisîmes |
| vous | traduisîtes |
| ils / elles | traduisirent |
Baudelaire traduisit Edgar Allan Poe avec une fidélité légendaire.
Baudelaire translated Edgar Allan Poe with legendary faithfulness. (literary)
Futur simple
Stem traduir- (the infinitive minus -e) plus regular futur endings.
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| je | traduirai |
| tu | traduiras |
| il / elle / on | traduira |
| nous | traduirons |
| vous | traduirez |
| ils / elles | traduiront |
Je te traduirai le passage demain, là je suis trop fatiguée.
I'll translate the passage for you tomorrow — I'm too tired right now.
L'éditeur traduira son livre en plus de vingt langues.
The publisher will translate his book into more than twenty languages.
Conditionnel présent
Same traduir- stem as the futur, with imparfait endings.
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| je | traduirais |
| tu | traduirais |
| il / elle / on | traduirait |
| nous | traduirions |
| vous | traduiriez |
| ils / elles | traduiraient |
Tu traduirais ce mail pour moi ? Je n'ai pas le niveau.
Could you translate this email for me? I don't have the level.
Cette phrase, je la traduirais plutôt par 'cependant'.
That sentence — I would actually translate it with 'however'.
Subjonctif présent
Stem traduis- (from the nous form), with regular subjunctive endings.
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| (que) je | traduise |
| (que) tu | traduises |
| (qu')il / elle / on | traduise |
| (que) nous | traduisions |
| (que) vous | traduisiez |
| (qu')ils / elles | traduisent |
The 1pl and 2pl forms (traduisions, traduisiez) are spelled identically to the imparfait — context disambiguates.
Il faut que tu traduises ce contrat avant vendredi.
You need to translate this contract before Friday.
Je ne crois pas qu'il traduise mot à mot — il adapte.
I don't think he translates word for word — he adapts.
Impératif
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| (tu) | traduis |
| (nous) | traduisons |
| (vous) | traduisez |
Traduis-moi cette phrase, j'arrive pas à comprendre.
Translate this sentence for me, I can't figure it out.
Traduisez le texte ci-dessous en français.
Translate the text below into French.
Participles and gérondif
- Participe passé: traduit (agrees with preceding direct object when avoir is auxiliary)
- Participe présent: traduisant
- Gérondif: en traduisant
En traduisant ce poème, j'ai découvert qu'il rime aussi en français.
While translating this poem, I discovered that it also rhymes in French.
The participe passé traduit must agree with a preceding direct object: les pages que j'ai traduites (feminine plural — traduites agrees with les pages).
The compound tenses
Traduire takes avoir as its auxiliary in all compound tenses.
Passé composé
avoir (présent) + traduit
| Person | Form | Translation |
|---|---|---|
| j' | ai traduit | I translated / I've translated |
| tu | as traduit | you translated |
| il / elle / on | a traduit | he/she/we translated |
| nous | avons traduit | we translated |
| vous | avez traduit | you translated |
| ils / elles | ont traduit | they translated |
J'ai traduit ce livre en six mois — un record pour moi.
I translated this book in six months — a record for me.
Qui a traduit ce roman en français ? Le style est magnifique.
Who translated this novel into French? The style is magnificent.
Plus-que-parfait
avoir (imparfait) + traduit
J'avais traduit le document avant la réunion, mais personne ne l'a lu.
I had translated the document before the meeting, but nobody read it.
Futur antérieur
avoir (futur) + traduit
Quand tu rentreras, j'aurai traduit le chapitre entier.
By the time you get back, I'll have translated the whole chapter.
Conditionnel passé
avoir (conditionnel) + traduit
J'aurais traduit ça différemment, mais ce n'est pas faux.
I would have translated that differently, but it's not wrong.
Subjonctif passé
avoir (subjonctif) + traduit
Je suis content qu'il ait traduit le poème lui-même.
I'm glad he translated the poem himself.
The three core uses
1. Translate (literal)
The basic meaning: render text or speech from one language into another. The standard prepositional frame is traduire X de Y en Z — translate X from Y into Z.
Elle traduit le roman du japonais en français.
She translates the novel from Japanese into French.
J'ai traduit son discours de l'anglais vers le français.
I translated his speech from English into French.
Comment traduit-on 'serendipity' en français ?
How do you translate 'serendipity' into French?
Note the prepositions: de (or depuis) for the source language, en for the target language. The variant vers (toward) is also acceptable for the target, especially in professional translation contexts (traduire vers sa langue maternelle). What you should not say is à for either source or target — that is a transfer error from English "from … to."
2. Express, render, convey (figurative)
Traduire extends figuratively to mean express or render — to translate a feeling, an idea, or an intention into words, action, or another medium. This use is common in literary and journalistic French.
Ce regard traduisait toute sa déception.
That look conveyed all her disappointment.
Le tableau traduit l'angoisse de l'époque.
The painting captures the anxiety of the era.
Sa colère s'est traduite par un long silence.
His anger expressed itself through a long silence.
The reflexive form se traduire par (literally "to translate itself by/into") is especially productive: it means "to manifest as," "to result in," or "to be expressed by." Une augmentation des prix se traduit souvent par une baisse de la consommation (A price rise often translates into a drop in consumption).
3. Bring before a court: traduire en justice
A specific legal idiom: traduire en justice means to bring someone before the courts, to prosecute. The construction is fixed and frequent in news reporting.
Le suspect a été traduit en justice hier matin.
The suspect was brought before the court yesterday morning.
Les responsables seront traduits devant un tribunal international.
Those responsible will be brought before an international court.
On exige que les coupables soient traduits en justice.
We demand that the guilty be brought to justice.
The variant traduire devant un tribunal is also used. This is one of the few contexts where traduire takes a person as direct object — most other uses of traduire take a text, idea, or feeling.
High-frequency traduire expressions
- traduire de X en Y — translate from X to Y
- traduire vers X — translate into X (professional usage)
- traduire mot à mot — translate word-for-word
- traduire littéralement — translate literally
- se traduire par — manifest as, result in
- traduire en justice — bring before the courts (formal/legal)
- intraduisible — untranslatable (the adjective)
Cette expression est presque intraduisible en anglais.
This expression is nearly untranslatable into English.
L'inquiétude de l'opinion s'est traduite par une baisse du gouvernement dans les sondages.
Public concern translated into a drop for the government in the polls.
Comparison with English
Three friction points:
- The preposition is en, not à. English says "translate into French," and the natural reflex is to map "into" onto à. But French uses en: traduire en français. À is wrong here. (Professionals also use vers — traduire vers le français — especially when emphasizing the target as the destination.)
- Traduire covers translation, not interpretation. English uses "translate" loosely for both written and spoken, but French maintains the distinction: traduire for written translation (and conceptual rendering), interpréter for live spoken interpretation between languages. A simultaneous interpreter is un interprète, not un traducteur.
- The reflexive se traduire par has no clean English equivalent. It is one of the most useful constructions you can borrow into your active French — "manifests as," "results in," "translates into" (figurative). English speakers underuse it.
Common Mistakes
Mistake 1: Using à instead of en for the target language.
❌ Traduis cette phrase à l'anglais.
Wrong — the target language takes en, not à.
✅ Traduis cette phrase en anglais.
Translate this sentence into English.
Mistake 2: Confusing traduire with interpréter.
❌ Elle a traduit la conférence en direct.
Misleading — for live spoken work between languages, French uses interpréter.
✅ Elle a interprété la conférence en direct.
She interpreted the conference live.
Mistake 3: Forgetting participle agreement with preceding direct object.
❌ Les pages que j'ai traduit.
Wrong — traduit must agree with the preceding direct object les pages.
✅ Les pages que j'ai traduites.
The pages I translated.
Mistake 4: Using the wrong preposition for the source language.
❌ J'ai traduit le livre en français en anglais.
Wrong — the source takes de, not en. The repetition is also confusing.
✅ J'ai traduit le livre du français en anglais.
I translated the book from French into English.
Mistake 5: Spelling the participle as traduis instead of traduit.
❌ J'ai traduis le texte.
Wrong — the participe passé is traduit, not traduis. Traduis is the present je/tu form.
✅ J'ai traduit le texte.
I translated the text.
Key takeaways
Traduire is "to translate," and it sits at the head of the regular -uire family (conduire, produire, construire, détruire, réduire, introduire, séduire) — all sharing the same conjugation. The plural forms insert an -s- (nous traduisons), and the participe passé is the irregular short form traduit (with no -s). Compound tenses take avoir.
Three uses to keep straight: literal translation (traduire de X en Y — note en, not à, for the target language), figurative expression (ce regard traduit sa déception), and the legal idiom traduire en justice (bring before a court). The reflexive se traduire par is a high-value construction English speakers should adopt: "manifest as," "result in."
Two friction points with English: keep en as the preposition for the target language (not à), and remember that interpréter — not traduire — is what a live simultaneous translator does.
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