french grammar tenses/moods/constructs

present (use, form)

• Use: describe actions in the present

• Form: normal conjugations

passé composée (use, form)

• Use: actions done in the past, ‘moves the story forward’

• Form: avoir/etre with past participle

imparfait (use, form)

• Use: describes how things used to be, emotions in the past, background of story

• Form: nous form without -ons + endings (ais, ais, ait, ions, iez, aient)

near future (use, form)

• Use: describe actions you’re going to do soon

• Form: aller + infinitive

future simple (use, form)

• Use: describe the future/future events

• Form: infinitive verb + endings (-ai, -as, -a, -ons, -ez, and -ont)

conditionelle (use, form)

• Use: something that might happen/would happen under certain circumstances, also used for politeness with certain expressions

• Form: future stem + imparfait endings

plus-que-parfait (use, form)

• Use: something that happened before the discussed past (before the ‘story’)

• Form: imperfect avoir/être + past participle

conditionelle passé (use, form)

• Use: most often used for regrets about past, would/could/should have, etc.

• Form: avoir/être in present conditional + past participle

subjonctif (use, form)

• Use: expresses doubt, desire, wishes, uncertainty (always used with que… il faut que, je veux que, etc)

• Form: take present ‘ils’ form and remove ent, add endings (-e, -es, -e, -ions, -iez, -ent)

gérondif (use, form, irregulars)

• Use: doing two things at once, doing one thing through another action

• Form: take nous form of present verb and add -ant to the end of it (en chantant)

• Irregulars: être = en etant, avoir = en ayant, savoir = en sachant

si hypothèse (use, form)

• Si (something were to happen), (something else would happen)

• Uses imparfait for the first part, conditional for the second