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French Tenses - The Basics
In English, an infinitive is given with to in the front of it. To talk in English is an infinitive. In French, however, all infinitives are in the form of a single word. To talk in French is parler.
There are three types of "regular" verbs in French. That is, these verbs follow a common pattern when conjugated. For these verbs, all you need to know is the infinitive and you can conjugate them for every tense. These verbs are the -er, -ir, and -re verbs. Meaning they all share the common -er, -ir, or -re ending. Just because a verb ends in one of these endings doesn't necessarily make it regular, it could still be irregular.
Irregular verbs follow no real common pattern and must each be learned. In most cases, the form of an irregular verb is different from the common patterns that regular verbs follow in every tense.
In addition to past, present, and future tenses, French has a series of conjugations depending on the usage of the verb.
Verb tenses sorted by mood
Non-finite forms
- Le participe présent (The Present Participle)
- Le participe passé (The Past Participle)
- Le Verbe Auxiliaire (The Auxiliary Verb)
- L'infinitif (The Infinitive)
- L'infinitif passé (The Past Infinitive)
L'indicatif (The indicative mood)
Simple tenses
- Le présent de l'indicatif (The present indicative)
- L'imparfait de l'indicatif (The imperfect)
- Le passé simple (The past historic)
- Le futur (The future)
Perfect tenses
- Le passé composé (The present perfect)
- Le plus-que-parfait de l'indicatif (The pluperfect of the indicative)
- Le passé antérieur (The past anterior)
- Le futur antérieur (The future anterior)
Other tenses
- Le passé récent (The recent past)
- Le futur proche (The near future)
Le subjonctif (The subjunctive mood)
- Le subjonctif (The subjunctive)
- L'imparfait du subjonctif (The imperfect subjunctive)
- Le subjonctif passé (The past subjunctive)
- Le plus-que-parfait du subjonctif (The pluperfect subjunctive)
L'impératif (The imperative mood)
- L'impératif (The imperative)
- L'impératif passé (The past imperative)
Le conditionnel (The conditional mood)
- Le conditionnel (The conditional)
- Le conditionnel passé (The past conditional)
- Le deuxième forme du conditionnel passé (The second form of the past conditional)
Verb tenses sorted by type
Simple tenses
- Le présent de l'indicatif (The present indicative)
- L'imparfait de l'indicatif (The imperfect)
- Le passé simple (The past historic)
- Le futur (The future)
- Le conditionnel (The conditional)
- Le présent du subjonctif (The present subjunctive)
- L'imparfait du subjonctif (The imperfect subjunctive)
Perfect tenses
- Le passé composé (The present perfect)
- Le plus-que-parfait de l'indicatif (The pluperfect of the indicative)
- Le plus-que-parfait du subjonctif (The pluperfect of the subjunctive)
- Le passé antérieur (The past anterior)
- Le futur antérieur (The future anterior)
- Le conditionnel passé (The conditional past)
- Le passé du subjonctif (The subjunctive past)
Perfect tense components
- Le participe présent (The present participle)
- Le participe passé (The past participle)
- Le verbe auxiliaire (The auxiliary verb)
Other tenses
- Le passé récent (The near past)
- Le futur proche (The near future)
- L'Impératif (The imperative)
- L'impératif passé (The past imperative)
Verb tenses sorted by time
Past
- L'imparfait de l'indicatif (The imperfect)
- Le passé simple (The past historic)
- L'imparfait du subjonctif (The imperfect subjunctive)
- Le passé composé (The present perfect)
- Le plus-que-parfait de l'indicatif (The pluperfect of the indicative)
- Le passé antérieur (The past anterior)
- Le passé récent (The near past)
- L'imparfait du subjonctif (The imperfect subjunctive)
- Le subjonctif passé (The past subjunctive)
- Le plus-que-parfait du subjonctif (The pluperfect subjunctive)
- L'impératif passé (The past imperative)
- Le conditionnel passé (The past conditional)
- Le deuxième forme du conditionnel passé (The second form of the past conditional)
Present
Future
Future Simple
See also
External links
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