French Tenses

?
  • Created by: KHand21
  • Created on: 09-04-17 16:37

Perfect Tense with etre

When you form the perfect tense with être, the past participle agrees with the subject of the verb (the person doing the action):

  • add -e to the past participle for feminine singular --> allée
  • add -s for masculine plural --> allés
  • add -es for feminine plural --> allées

So the perfect tense of aller (to go) is:

  • je suis allé(e)
  • tu es allé(e)
  • il/elle/on est allé(e)
  • on est allé(e)(s)
  • nous sommes allé(e)s
  • vous êtes allé(e)(s)
  • ils/elles sont allé(e)s
1 of 6

Mrs Vandertramp

  • Monter = monté (went up)
  • Retourner = retourné (returned)
  • Sortir = sorti (went out)
  • Venir = venu (came)
  • Arriver = arrivé (arrived)
  • Naître = (was born)
  • Descendre = descendu (went down)
  • Entrer = entré (entered)
  • Rester = resté (stayed)
  • Tomber = tombé (fell)
  • Rentrer = rentré (went back in)
  • Aller = allé (went)
  • Mourir =mort (died)
  • Partir =parti (left)
2 of 6

Imperfect Tense

To form the imperfect tense of all verbs take the nous form of the present tense, eg avoir --> nous avons and drop the nous and the -ons and add the imperfect endings, eg:

  • j'avais
  • tu avais
  • il/elle/on avait
  • nous avions
  • vous aviez
  • ils/elles avaient

     je   ais tu   ais il/elle/on   ait nous     ions vous   iez ils/elles   aient

3 of 6

Present Tense

Conjugating regular -er, -ir and -re verbs to form the present tense

                      -er verbs parler                      -ir verbs choisir                      -re verbs vendre

je                         parle                                     choisis                                         vends

tu                        parles                                     choisis                                        vends

il/elle/on              parle                                      choisit                                          vend

nous                   parlons                                  choisissons                                vendons

vous                    parlez                                  choisissez                                   vendez

ils/elles               perlent                                    choisissent                                 vendent

4 of 6

Immediate Future Tense

The immediate future tense is used to talk about what is going to happen in the future.

It's formed by combining both:

  • the present tense of the verb aller
  • the infinitive of the main verb

Je vais

Tu vas

Il/elle/on va

Nous allons

Vous allez

Ils/elles vont

    

                             

5 of 6

Conditional Future Tense

Forming the conditional tense

The conditional tense is used to talk about what would happen in the future:

  • Je regarderais la télé (I would watch TV)

To form the conditional tense, add the imperfect endings to the future stem:

  • Regarder = je regarderais (I would watch)
  • Finir = tu finirais (you would finish)
  • Prendre = il/elle/on prendrait (he/she/it would take)
  • Manger = nous mangerions (we would eat)
  • Partir = vous partiriez (you would leave)
  • Vendre = ils/elles vendraient (they would sel
6 of 6

Comments

No comments have yet been made

Similar French resources:

See all French resources »See all Grammar and vocabulary resources »