French Verb Tense Timeline21
French Verb Tense Timeline21
French Verb Tense Timeline21
French Verb
Tenses
Used to indicate that an action Used when making a general Used for events or actions to
takes place in a remote past, or, statement of truth at the take place at a time after the
at least, that an action takes present point in time utterance is made. Corresponds
place before another past exactly to the English use of the
action or state. Example: Je mange le petit future tense, will + verb tense.
djeuner tous les jours.
Example: Tu avais cout ce Example: Elle partira demain.
disque avant de le condamner ?
prsent
pass futur
Used for an action that repeatedly Used for an action that will
happened in the past, general past usage happen at a point in time in the
(describes what it was like when the past future. Use in conversations,
action occurred, how things used to be, in similar to is going to.
your childhood for example, without
focusing on a specific date. Example: Je vais prendre le
petit djeuner plus tard.
Example: Je pris le petit djeuner ce
matin. prsent
pass futur
conditionnel pass
pass futur
conditionnel prsent
Unlike in English, there is only one verb tense for the present. (To get the
"I'm writing" effect, we built our sentences like this:
Subject + "to be" in the prsent tense + "en train de" + the verb wanted in the
infinitive form.
Je lis les nouvelles sur internet tous les jours. I read news online every day
Considered easier to conjugate but is harder to apply correctly. Unlike pass compos,
it's more dramatic. When I tell a story using the imperfect, the reader doesn't know if
the ending will be good or bad. Here are 5 cases where imparfait is used:
In a normal conversation, a sentence with only one verb in imparfait doesn't work if
it's not followed with more sentences. Since there is a drama unfolding, the other
person will want to know "and then what?" If you don't wish to add anything,
use pass compos.
This type of sentence often starts with the word "if, but know that the resulting
action (the second part of that kind of sentence) will not be in imparfait (more about
that below).
4) to talk about an action that didn't happen or is likely to not happen after all.
"I was going to/I was supposed to" covers it best. It's often used with verbs like
vouloir (to want), devoir (to must do something) and aller (to go).
French speakers can talk about the past of a future that will never happen. Similar to
the English Future Past, I was going to...
This is like looking at a photo: something is described frozen in mid-air. It's used in
novels and documentaries.
If 2 actions happen at the same time, we will use imparfait and pass
compos together. One action (the longest time duration, or the one that happened
first) will be in imparfait, and the other (the shortest time duration) will be in pass
compos.
1) isolated facts
It's great for stating something and then moving on to a different topic of
conversation. When a story is told in pass compos, there is no suspense. The reader
knows immediately everything is now fine or back to normal.
2) something finished
The length of the action is not important in itself, as long as it's finished.
Vous can be a singular or plural subject for both masculine and feminine subjects.
Singular Plural
Vous tes entr. (You entered.) Vous tes entrs. (You entered.)
Vous tes entre. (You entered.) Vous tes entres. (You entered.)
In the negative, put ne before the conjugated form of tre and the negative word after
it:
To form a question using inversion, invert the conjugated form of tre with the subject
pronoun and add a hyphen. The negatives surround the hyphenated verb and
pronoun:
Very much like the future tense in English, except that we don't simply tag a
translation of the word "will" in front of everything, we actually conjugate the whole
verb.
You might have heard of "near future". It's not an actual verb tense as such, more like
a popular habit because it's easy and it involves no R to pronounce. It also mimics the
English "I will " style:
Conjugate the verb aller in the prsent tense and tack an infinitive verb afterwards.
L'impratif is used to give "orders". It's an easy verb tense. It's the only verb tense
where we don't use subjects (like je, tu, il, etc.) and it's only declined in 3 form. For
example, a verb like marcher (to walk) would be:
1) for an action that could happen (real potential situation - could / should)
L'homme aimerait escalader la montagne. The man would like to climb the mountain.
The first part of a sentence starting with "if" is imparfait. The second part is the
resulting action, and it will be in conditionnel prsent.
Sil pleuvait, je resterais la maison. (If it were raining, I would stay home.)
Nous aimerions gagner le loto. (We would like to win the lottery.)
is about things that could have happened but didn't. Unlike conditionnel prsent, this
time, it's too late to make it happen. Think of it as the past of a parallel life.
L'homme aurait pu explorer la fort. The man could have explored the forest.
The conditional perfect can also be used in a sentence where the unmet condition is
only implied:
Etre (auxiliare) Prsent : tant Aller Prsent : allant Pouvoir Prsent : pouvant
Pass : t Pass : all Pass : pu
Avoir (auxiliaire) Prsent : ayant Dire Prsent : disant Prendre Prsent : prenant
Pass : eu Pass : dit Pass : pris
As it doesn't exist in English, it will require some training at first, but it's not as bad as
you think. First of all, you need to know it always has the word que (that) tacked in
front of it (or qu' if it's used with il or elle). Now let's see 3 cases where you'd use it:
2) When expressing a feeling or a wish about a future action, the future action is
in subjonctif.
With verbs such as aimer, prfrer, souhaiter, esprer and vouloir, what follows is
often in subjonctif.
J'aimerais que tu viennes avec moi I would like you to come with me.
3) When expressing a feeling about someone else's action, that action is insubjonctif.
With a state of mind such as Je suis triste que.. (I'm sad that), Je suis surprisque (I'm
surprised that) what follows is often in subjonctif. This can be useful when gossiping!
Je suis content que tu puisses venir. I'm glad you can come.
As subjonctif seems to spring from feelings, obligations and wishes, I've pinned it on
the guy's heart, but I could have pinned it on his head too. On a timeline, it's neither
in the past nor in the future in itself, even though it may regard things in the present
or in the future.
A French compound tense is formed with a conjugated form of one of the two auxiliary verbs
tre (to be) and avoir (to have) and the past participle of the main verb.
English and French compound tenses are different in their form (English may use three-word
forms) and in their usage. Here are some examples of compound tenses in French, with nonliteral
English translations:
The past conditional: Si elle avait su, elle aurait choisi lautre solution.
(If she had known, she would have chosen the other solution.)
plus-que-parfait
The French plus que parfait past tense is fortunately neither very hard to understand
nor to master. The exact same concept and tense also exists in English, though as a
native speaker you may have never consciously paid attention to it. Essentially, its a
way to talk about one past event occurring before another past event.
Before I knew she was a celebrity, I had guessed that she was very wealthy.
In terms of the way you conjugate plus-que-parfait, its almost a mash-up of imparfait
and pass compos. Like with pass compos, you use a helping verb thats (usually)
the conjugated form of avoir. You also use the past participle version of the verb.
The helping verb conjugation you use with plus-que parfait, however, is not the
present tense form of avoir; its the imperfect form. For example, all the past tense
forms (not counting the subjunctive) are listed below so that you can see their
similarities and differences. The verb being conjugated is apprendre (to learn).
Therefore, the sentences below translate as:
futur antrieur
The futur antrieur is used for an action that precedes, or will be completed before,
another action in the future. While the futur is expressed in English by 'will' + main
verb (will finish), the futur antrieur is usually translated as 'will have' + past participle
of verb (will have finished).
Quand Tammy aura reu son diplme, Tex et elle iront en France.
When Tammy gets her degree, she and Tex go to France.
Ds que Tex et Tammy se seront maris, ils auront beaucoup de petits tatous.
As soon as Tex and Tammy get married, they will have lots of little armadillos.
The future perfect (futur antrieur) is formed with the simple future of the auxiliary
(either tre or avoir), plus the past participle of the main verb. The choice
between tre and avoir as an auxiliary is the same as in the pass compos.
futur proche
A verb construction used to express something that is going to happen soon, an
upcoming event which is going to occur in the near future.
Tense I (Je)
Past Conditional I would have spoken Jaurais parl
Pluperfect I had spoken Javais parl
Pass Compos I have spoken Jais parl
Imperfect I was speaking Je parlais
Present I speak Je parle
Future I will speak Je parlerai
Conditional I would speak Je parlerais
Future Perfect I will have spoken Jaurai parl
Tense We (Nous)
Past Conditional We would have spoken Nous aurions parl
Pluperfect We had spoken Nous avions parl
Pass Compos We were speaking Nous avons parl
Imperfect We spoke Nous parlions
Present We speak Nous parlons
Future We will speak Nous parlerons
Conditional We would speak Nous parlerions
Future Perfect We will have spoken Nous aurons parl