The present tense in French is used to describe actions happening now, habitual actions, or

general truths.
For regular -er verbs,
Step 1: you remove the -er ending
Step 2 : add the appropriate endings:
With je -e,
with tu -es
with il/ elle -e,
With nous -ons,
With vous -ez,
with ils /:elles -ent.
Exemple
Parler ( to speak)
Step 1: remove -er ( parle)
Step 2 : add endings
Je parle
tu Parles
Il/ Elle Parle
Nous Parlons
Vous Parlez
Ils Parlent

-ir ending verbs

Finir - to finish
Remove- r, add endings

Sujet pronoms Pluriel

Singulier

Je Finis Nous finissons

Tu finis Vous finissez

Il/ Elle finit Ils/ Elles finissent

-re ending verbs

Attendre - to wait
Remove - re, add endings

J'attends Nous attendons

Tu attends Vous attendez

 Il/ Elle attend Ils / Elles attendent
Basic verbs are
Être:
Je suis
Tu es
Il/Elle/On est
Nous sommes
Vous êtes
Ils/Elles sont
Avoir:
J'ai
Tu as
Il/Elle/On a
Nous avons
Vous avez
Ils/Elles ont
Aller:
Je vais
Tu vas
Il/Elle/On va
Nous allons
Vous allez
Ils/Elles vont

Passé composé
The passé composé is a French past tense that combines an auxiliary verb (either avoir
or être) with the past participle of the main verb. It's used to describe completed actions
in the past and often translates to the English simple past or present perfect.
Formation:
Choose the auxiliary verb: Most verbs use avoir, but some, including those of
movement and reflexive verbs, use être.
Form the past participle:
For regular -ER verbs, drop -ER and add -é.
For regular -IR verbs, drop -IR and add -i.
For regular -RE verbs, drop -RE and add -u.
Irregular verbs have unique past participles that need to be memorized.
Combine the auxiliary verb (conjugated in the present tense) with the

Sujet + verbe auxiliaire (être/ avoir)+ participé passé du verbe

J’ + ai + parlé (-er ending verbs)
J’ + ai + fini (-ir ending verbs)
J’ + ai + attendu (-re ending verbs)
The verbs related to movement take être as auxiliary verb
DR & MRS VANDERTRAMP seems to be the standard mnemonic device for être
verbs.
Verbes Participé passé
Devenir devenu
Revenir revenu
&
Monter monté
Rester resté
Sortir sorti
Venir venu
Aller allé
Naître né
Descendre descendu
Entrer entré
Rentrer rentré
Tomber tombé
Retourner retourné
Arriver arrivé
Mourir mort
Partir parti
Verbs whose helping verb is être must show agreement of their past participles in
gender (masculine or feminine — add e) and number (singular or plural — add s)
with the subject noun or pronoun.

Imparfait

L’imparfait (the imperfect) is a French past tense. It describes states and actions that
were ongoing or repeated in the past.
When to use the imperfect tense in French
We use the imperfect tense in the following situations:

● to describe a situation in the past

Example:
Quand il était petit, Lucas aimait beaucoup les gâteaux.
● to describe a person, a property, a comment or an explanation in the past
Example :
Lucas était un enfant très gourmand.
● to talk about a repeated action in the past
Example:
Tous les jours, il faisait un gâteau avec son amie Florence.
 ● to talk about simultaneously occurring actions in the past
Example:
Pendant qu’il regardait la recette, Florence préparait la pâte.
● to emphasise the duration of an action
Example:
Ils cuisaient le gâteau puis mangeaient une part au dessert

The French imperfect is very easy to conjugate. With a single exception, every single
French verb is conjugated as follows:

Step 1. Start with the verb’s nous form of the present tense
Step 2. Drop –ons
Step 3. Add the imperfect ending.
Here are the imperfect conjugations for the regular -er verb donner (to give), the regular
-ir verb choisir (to choose), the stem-changing verb lever (to lift), and the irregular verbs
aller (to go) and être (to be).

Pronoun donner > donn- choisir > choisiss- aller > all- être > ét-
je / j’ -ais donnais choisissais allais étais
tu -ais donnais choisissais allais étais
il -ait donnait choisissait allait était
nous -ions donnions choisissions allions étions
vous -iez donniez choisissiez alliez étiez
ils -aient donnaient choisissaient allaient étaient

-cer ending verbes

je lançais

tu lançais

il/elle/on lançait

nous lancions

vous lanciez

ils/elles lançaient
-ger Ending verbs

je mangeais

tu mangeais

il/elle/on mangeait

nous mangions

vous mangiez

ils/elles mangeaient

Futur simple
Le futur simple corresponds to the will-future tense in English. We mostly
use this tense to talk about future plans or intentions, as well as to make
predictions about what may occur in the future. We conjugate the future
tense by adding the endings -ai, -as, -a, -ons, -ez and -ont to the infinitive
of the verb.

How to conjugate the futur simple in French

To conjugate the futur simple, we take the infinitive of the verb and add the
following endings (for -re verbs, we remove the final e):

1st person singular (I) j’aimerai je finirai je vendrai

2nd person singular (you) tu aimeras tu finiras tu vendras

 3rd person singular il/elle/on il/elle/on il/elle/on
(he/she/it) aimera finira vendra

1st person plural (we) nous aimerons nous finirons nous vendrons

2nd person plural (you) vous aimerez vous finirez vous vendrez

3rd person plural (they) ils/elles ils/elles ils/elles

aimeront finiront vendront

The verbs avoir and être are irregular in the futur simple.

Person avoir être

1st person singular (I) j’aurai je serai

2nd person singular (you) tu auras tu seras

3rd person singular il/elle/on il/elle/on

(he/she/it) aura sera

1st person plural (we) nous aurons nous serons

 2nd person plural (you) vous aurez vous serez

3rd person plural (they) ils/elles ils/elles

auront seront

Exceptions
■ Add a grave accent to a short e in the stem of the verb.
■ Examples:
■ peser – je pèserai
modeler – je modèlerai
■ Many verbs ending in -eler/-eter double the final consonants.
■ Example:
■ jeter – je jetterai
■ Some verbs lose the i of the ending -rir before adding the future ending.
■ Examples:
■ courir – je courrai
mourir – je mourrai
■ For verbs ending in -yer, the y becomes an i in the futur simple. For verbs ending
in -ayer, both y and i are permitted. (Note: the following verbs don’t follow this
pattern: envoyer → j’enverrai and renvoyer → je renverrai).
■ Examples:
■ employer – j’emploierai, tu emploieras, il emploiera, nous emploierons, vous
emploierez, ils emploieront
payer – je payerai/paierai
■ Verbs ending in -oir are irregular in the futur simple, as are aller, envoyer, faire
and venir. Check their conjugation in the list of irregular verbs.
■ Example:
■ pouvoir – je pourrai, tu pourras, il pourra, nous pourrons, vous pourrez, ils
pourront

Le Futur Proche
Le futur proche, also known as le futur composé, is used to talk about actions in the
near future. It corresponds to the English structure going to + infinitive, and emphasises
that there is already an intention behind the action.
How to conjugate the futur proche in French
To conjugate the futur proche, we use the present tense of the verb aller , followed by
the infinitive of the main verb

ALLER (present tense) + a verb (infinitive)

Je vais aller _ (I am going to go)

Tu vas aller _ (you’re going to go)

Il / elle va aller _ (he / she is going to go)

Nous allons aller _ (we are going to go)

Vous allez aller _ (you are going to go)

Ils /elles vont aller _ (they are going to

Other examples :

Je vais manger chez mes grands parents.

Elle va dormir chez ses amies.

On va faire du vélo ce week end.

Important verbs to be learnt in all the tenses

Être,avoir,aller,faire, lire,dire, savoir, connaître, pouvoir, vouloir, mettre, boire,

prendre, venir,écrire,voir,recevoir, prendre, appeler etc.