French verb tenses
L'imparfait
Things you used to do or things that took place over a period of time
- Also use this tense when desribing the background of a story
- translates to "used to"
example: Je parlais "i used to speak"
- Nous in present tense, remove 'ons' and add endings
example - mangeons ; mangeais
Le futur simple
Use this tense to talk about things you'll do in the future
Formed by combining the infinitive of the verb with the present tense ending of the verb 'avoir'
- ai, as, a, ons, ez, ont
example: Je parlerai (i will speak)
*RE verbs take off the 'e', nous vendrons
- Used in si clause
Le futur proche
Aller in the present tense followed by the infinitive of the verb
- Je vais parler (I'm going to speak)
Futur anterieur
Used to describe actions that will have happened in the future
example: J'aurai mangé (i will have eaten)
Avoir or etre (etre for verbs with s')
Aurai, auras, aura, aurons, aurez, auront
Serai, seras, sear, serons, serez, seront
Le conditionnel present
Used for expressing hypothetical actions
It is the "would" tense
- Take the infinitive then put on the appropriate endings, same as imparfait endings
Nous parlerions - we would speak
Le subjonctif
Used to express wishes, emotions and doubts, often requires 2 subjects separated by que (that)
Je veux que tu parles francais - i want you to speak french
e, es, e, ions, iez, ent
QUE nous parlions - that we speak
Plus-que-parfait
Used to indicate actions that occurred prior to other past actions
- would equate to "had happened"
Je n’ai pas mangé à 18h00 parcé que j’avais dejà mange à 16h00” (I didn’t eat at 6pm because I’d already eaten at 4pm).
Formed by combining avoir in the imparfait with the past participle
avais parle, avais, avait, avions, aviez, avaient
etais, etais, etait, etions, etiez, etaient