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Tenses

A map of the French verb system, with one verb, manger, shown in the je form throughout. English forms most tenses with helper words such as “will”, “would” and “was”. French usually shows the tense in the verb ending.

Where each tense sits in time

The band represents the imparfait: an ongoing or repeated situation in the past. Each other tense is shown as a point. Hollow dots mark tenses to learn later.

everyday needed from the startlater useful once the basics are solidrecognise read it, no need to produce it

Several English forms, one French tense

A solid line is the usual match. A dashed line is also common: plain “I ate” can be a habit, and in speech “I will eat” is often je vais manger.

Tense by tense

Regular endings are shown on parler, finir and vendre, with the ending in red.

Présentpresenteveryday

Use: What happens now, what happens regularly, and often the near future.
Build: Stem + present endings. Regular -ir verbs add -iss- in the plural.
Example: Je parle français tous les jours.
I speak French every day.

Person	parler	finir	vendre
je	parle	finis	vends
tu	parles	finis	vends
il / elle	parle	finit	vend
nous	parlons	finissons	vendons
vous	parlez	finissez	vendez
ils / elles	parlent	finissent	vendent

The endings -e, -es, -ent are silent, so parle, parles and parlent sound the same.

Passé composé“I ate”, “I have eaten”everyday

Use: A finished event in the past.
Build: Present of avoir or être + past participle (-é, -i, -u).
Example: J’ai parlé avec Luc hier.
I spoke with Luc yesterday.

Person	with avoir	with être
je	ai parlé	suis allé(e)
tu	as parlé	es allé(e)
il / elle	a parlé	est allé(e)
nous	avons parlé	sommes allé(e)s
vous	avez parlé	êtes allé(e)s
ils / elles	ont parlé	sont allé(e)s

With ordinary être verbs the participle agrees with the subject. Reflexive verbs follow their own rule. See Past tenses for which verbs take être, and when to use this or the imparfait.

Imparfait“I was eating”, “I used to eat”everyday

Use: An ongoing situation, a habit or a description in the past.
Build: The nous form of the present without -ons + -ais, -ais, -ait, -ions, -iez, -aient.
Example: Enfant, je parlais peu.
As a child I spoke little.

Person	parler	finir	vendre
je	parlais	finissais	vendais
tu	parlais	finissais	vendais
il / elle	parlait	finissait	vendait
nous	parlions	finissions	vendions
vous	parliez	finissiez	vendiez
ils / elles	parlaient	finissaient	vendaient

Every verb is regular here except être: j’étais, tu étais, il était…

Futur proche“I am going to eat”everyday

Use: What is about to happen, and the usual future in speech.
Build: Present of aller + infinitive.
Example: Je vais parler avec lui ce soir.
I’m going to talk to him this evening.

Person	aller + parler
je	vais parler
tu	vas parler
il / elle	va parler
nous	allons parler
vous	allez parler
ils / elles	vont parler

See Infinitives, which also covers venir de for the recent past.

Futur simple“I will eat”everyday

Use: What will happen, often a little more formal or more distant than the futur proche.
Build: The infinitive (without the final -e of -re verbs) + -ai, -as, -a, -ons, -ez, -ont.
Example: Demain je parlerai avec lui.
Tomorrow I will speak with him.

Person	parler	finir	vendre
je	parlerai	finirai	vendrai
tu	parleras	finiras	vendras
il / elle	parlera	finira	vendra
nous	parlerons	finirons	vendrons
vous	parlerez	finirez	vendrez
ils / elles	parleront	finiront	vendront

English uses the helper “will”. French shows the future in the ending. The endings are the present of avoir: ai, as, a…

Conditionnel“I would eat”everyday

Use: What would happen, and polite requests.
Build: The same stem as the future + the imparfait endings -ais, -ais, -ait, -ions, -iez, -aient.
Example: Je voudrais un café.
I would like a coffee.

Person	parler	finir	vendre
je	parlerais	finirais	vendrais
tu	parlerais	finirais	vendrais
il / elle	parlerait	finirait	vendrait
nous	parlerions	finirions	vendrions
vous	parleriez	finiriez	vendriez
ils / elles	parleraient	finiraient	vendraient

Je voudrais, je pourrais and je devrais (I would like, I could, I should) are worth learning early as fixed words.

Impératifcommandseveryday

Use: Telling someone to do something.
Build: The tu, nous and vous forms of the present, without the subject. -er verbs drop the -s for tu: parle !
Example: Parle plus lentement !
Speak more slowly!

Person	parler	finir	vendre
tu	parle	finis	vends
nous	parlons	finissons	vendons
vous	parlez	finissez	vendez

A negative command puts ne … pas around the verb: Ne parle pas ! The nous form means “let’s”: Parlons !

Plus-que-parfait“I had eaten”later

Use: Something that happened before another past event.
Build: Imparfait of avoir or être + past participle.
Example: J’avais déjà parlé avec lui.
I had already spoken with him.

Person	with avoir	with être
je	avais parlé	étais allé(e)
tu	avais parlé	étais allé(e)
il / elle	avait parlé	était allé(e)
nous	avions parlé	étions allé(e)s
vous	aviez parlé	étiez allé(e)s
ils / elles	avaient parlé	étaient allé(e)s

Futur antérieur“I will have eaten”later

Use: Something that will be finished before a point in the future.
Build: Future of avoir or être + past participle.
Example: À huit heures, j’aurai fini.
By eight I will have finished.

Person	with avoir	with être
je	aurai parlé	serai allé(e)
tu	auras parlé	seras allé(e)
il / elle	aura parlé	sera allé(e)
nous	aurons parlé	serons allé(e)s
vous	aurez parlé	serez allé(e)s
ils / elles	auront parlé	seront allé(e)s

Subjonctifsubjunctivelater

Use: Mostly after que, for wishes, necessity, feelings and doubt. It is a mood with tenses of its own.
Build: Present forms: que je parle, que je finisse, que je vende.
Example: Il faut que tu viennes.
You have to come.

Common triggers: il faut que, je veux que, je suis content que, bien que, avant que. Je pense que takes the ordinary present: Je pense que c’est vrai. In the negative it takes the subjunctive: Je ne pense pas que ce soit vrai.

Passé simple“I ate”, in booksrecognise

Use: Finished events in novels, history and formal writing. It is not used in conversation.
Build: Its own endings, often irregular: il parla, ils parlèrent; il fut, il eut, il fit, il dit.
Example: Victor Hugo naquit en 1802.
Victor Hugo was born in 1802.

In speech the passé composé does this job, so it is enough to recognise the third-person forms when reading.

Things English speakers trip on

There is no separate tense for “I am eating”. The present covers it. Use je suis en train de manger to stress that the action is happening right now.
English “I ate” can correspond to two French tenses. The Past tenses page shows how to choose.
For something that started in the past and is still going on, French uses the present with depuis where English uses “have been”: J’habite ici depuis deux ans (I have lived here for two years).
In an “if” clause, French never uses the future or the conditional right after si: Si j’ai le temps, je viendrai (If I have time, I’ll come), Si j’avais le temps, je viendrais (If I had time, I would come). When si means “whether”, the future is fine: Je ne sais pas s’il viendra (I don’t know whether he’ll come).
In the je form, future and conditional differ by one letter and sound almost the same: je parlerai (I will speak), je parlerais (I would speak).
Some common verbs have an irregular stem in the future and conditional: j’irai, j’aurai, je serai, je ferai, je pourrai, je viendrai, je voudrai.