In French, there are three main tenses: le présent (present), le passé (past), le future (future). This section covers usages and formations of the most used tenses.
Le présent (present tense)
In French, le présent in the indicative mood is used to talk about the following:
- Current actions or states of being:
Je travaille. Je suis fatigué.
I am working. I am tired.
- Habitual actions or states of being:
Je travaille aussi le dimanche. Je suis toujours fatigué.
I also work on Sundays. I am always tired.
- Actions which are about to occur:
Je travaille demain.
I’m working tomorrow.
- General truths:
Le soleil se lève à l’est.
The sun rises in the East.
NB: In comparison with English, there is no “present continuous” in French. Both the present continuous (for actions happening now, and with future meaning) and the present simple (for truths and habitual actions) are expressed in a single tense, le présent, in French.
Le passé (past tense)
In French, le passé in the indicative mood is comprised of 5 aspects, or tenses: l’imparfait (imperfect), le passé composé (compound past), le passé simple (past simple), le passé antérieur (past anterior) and le plus-que-parfait (pluperfect) .The most important and used past tenses are le passé composé (compound past) and l’imparfait (imperfect).
Le passé composé (compound past)
The English equivalents of le passé composé (compound past), e.g. j’ai visité, are both the past simple (I visited), and the present perfect (I have visited). It is used for
- completed actions:
J’ai visité le Canada l’été dernier.
I visited Canada last summer.
- repeated actions:
J’ai visité le Canada 3 fois.
I have visited Canada 3 times.
- a series of actions:
J’ai visité le Canada et puis je suis allé aux États Unis.
I visited Canada and then I went to the US.
As the name indicates, le passé composé is a compound verb form, which is made up of an auxiliary verb (avoir or être) conjugated in the present tense and the past participle of the main verb:
Nous avons donné.
We gave / have given.
Il est sorti.
He went out /has gone out.
| Infinitive | Ending | Past participle | |
|---|---|---|---|
| -er verbs | regarder (to watch) | -é | regardé(e)(s) |
| -ir verbs | finir (to finish) | -i | fini(e)(s) |
| -re verbs | perdre (to lose) | -u | perdu(e)(s) |
L’imparfait (the imperfect)
In French, l’imparfait (the imperfect) is used to describe incomplete actions, ongoing actions and states of being in the past. The English equivalent is the past continuous (e.g. It was raining) and “used to + base form of main verb” (e.g. I used to be afraid of dogs). It’s used for
- descriptions (age, feelings, health, time, weather…):
Il pleuvait mais elle avait un parapluie.
It was raining but she had an umbrella.
- habitual actions or states of being:
Quand j’étais enfant, je jouais beaucoup aux jeux vidéos.
When I was a child, I used to play a lot of video games.
- actions or states of being with unspecified endings:
Je travaillais trop quand j’étais plus jeune.
I worked too much when I was younger.
- background information:
J’étais au bureau.
I was at the office.
To form form l’imparfait (the imperfect), start by identifying the nous conjugation of a verb in the present tense, drop the -ons, and add the appropriate ending according to the subject (e.g. finir > finissons > finiss- > + ais/ais/ait/ions/iez/aient). The only verb to not follow this conjugation rule is être.
| Pronoun | Ending | -er verbs | -ir verbs | -re verbs | être |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Je/J’ai | -ais | regardais | finissais | prendrais | étais |
| Tu | -ais | regardais | finissais | prendrais | étais |
| Il/Elle | -ait | regardait | finissait | prendrait | était |
| Nous | -ions | regardions | finissions | prendrions | étions |
| Vous | -iez | regardiez | finissiez | prendriez | étiez |
| Ils/Elles | -aient | regardaient | finissaient | prendraient | étaient |
Le futur (future tense)
In French, there are two future tenses: the simple future (futur simple) and the future perfect (futur antérieur).
For regular verbs, the simple future (futur simple) is formed by adding specific endings (-ai, -as, -a, -ons, -ez, -ont) to the infinitive form of the verb:
- Je parlerai (I will speak)
- Tu parleras (You will speak)
- Il/elle parlera (He/she will speak)
- Nous parlerons (We will speak)
- Vous parlerez (You will speak)
- Ils/elles parleront (They will speak)
There is another very common compound form called the “the near future” (le futur proche), which has the same meaning as “be going to” in English. Use the present tense of the verb aller (to go) followed by the infinitive of the main verb to form the near future:
Qu’est-ce que vous allez faire demain?
What are you going to do tomorrow?