French Tenses Explained

Passé Simple

Use: literary tense, translates a complete one-off action, replaces le parfait.

To form: Remove the endings of the infinitive, add the conjugation.

Er - ai, as, a, âmes, âtes, èrent.

Ir - is, is, it, îmes, îtes, irent.

Re - us, us, ut, ûmes, ûtes, ûrent.

Plus-que-parfait

Use: describes completed actions which happened before a previous action, establishes a timeline.

To form: imperfect auxiliary + past participle.

Avoir auxiliary: Avais, avais, avait, avions, aviez, avaient.

Être auxiliary: étais, étais, était, étions, étiez, étaient.

The past participle agrees with the subject for être.

Plus-que-parfait du subjonctif

Use: hypothetical past, triggered by doubt/emotion/possibility/necessity/conjunctions/expressions, translates ‘would have … ‘ed’ ‘.

To form: imperfect subjunctive auxiliary + past participle.

Avoir auxiliary: eusse, eusses, eût, eussions, eussiez, eussent. + past participle.

Être auxiliary: fusse, fusses, fût, fussions, fussiez, fussent. + past participle.

Passé du subjonctif

Use: actions in the past which are relevant to a hypothetical situation in the present/future, use instead of passé composé for subjunctive triggers.

To form: avoir/être auxiliary in present subjunctive + past participle.

Avoir: aie, aies, ait, ayons, ayez, aient.

Être: sois, sois, soit, soyons, soyez, soient.

Imparfait du subjonctif

Use: expresses doubt on past hypothetical situations / ongoing past events.

To form: il/elle form of passé simple + endings.

Endings: sse, sses, ^t, ssions, ssiez, ssent.

Imparfait

Use: describes ongoing/repeated actions in the past, past physical/emotional states, time, age, weather.

To form: nous form of present tense + endings.

Endings: ais, ais, ait, ions, iez, aient.

Passé composé

Use: describes completed past actions, emphasises result rather than duration/nature.

To form: present avoir/être auxiliary + past participle.

Avoir: ai, as, a ons, avez, ont

Être: suis, es, est, sommes, êtes, sont.

For past participle: ER verbs = remove er + é, IR verbs = remove ir + i, RE verbs = remove re + u.

Conditional présent

Use: translates would , hypothetical/polite/desire.

To form: infinitive + endings.

Endings: ais, ais, ait, ions, iez, aient.

Présent

Use: describes present actions, states facts, habitual actions.

To form: remove er-ir-re + endings.

Er: e, es, e, ons, ez, ent.

Ir: is, is, it, issons, issez, issent.

Re: s, s, -, ons, ez, ent.

Présent du subjonctif

Use: express doubt, uncertainty, desire, necessity, recommend, subjective actions, opinions, emotions. Works for conjunctions, superlatives, interrogatives.

To form: ils/elles present, remove ent, + endings.

Endings:

ER: e, es, e, ions, iez, ent.

IR: isse, isses, isse, issions, issiez, issent.

RE: e, es, e, ions, iez, ent.

Futur proche

Use: express actions which are going to happen in the near future.

To form: aller based on subject pronoun + infinitive.

Vais, vas, va, allons, allez, vont + infinitive.

Future simple

Use: future actions, predictions, assumptions.

To form: infinitive + ai, as, a, ons, ez, ont.

Futur antérieur

Use: describes an action that will have been completed before another action in the future.

It indicates that an action will be finished before a specific point in the future eg. will have …. before ….

To form: futur simple auxiliaries + past participle.

aurai, auras, aura, aurons, aurez, auront, serai, seras, sera, serons, serez, seront + past participle.

Conditionnel passé

Use: describes an action that would have happened in the past under certain conditions.

To form: conditional present auxiliary + past participle.

Auxiliaries: aurais, aurais, aurait, aurions, auriez, auraient, serais, serais, serait, serions, seriez, seraient + past participles

Passé intérieur

Use: literary tense which describes an action that was completed before another past action. Equivalent of “had …” , replaces plus-que-parfait.

To form: passé simple auxiliary + past participle.

Auxiliaries: eus, eus, eut, eûmes, eûtes, eurent, fus, fus, fut, fûmes, fûtes, furent + past participle.

Eg. Dès qu’il eut terminé son discours, la foule applaudit. ("As soon as he had finished his speech, the crowd applauded.")