French Grammar: Tenses

1) In any language, when we refer to something happening, we always use a tense to indicate whether it is going to, is, or has already, happened.

e.g. I'm going to eat an apple. I am eating an apple. I ate an apple.

2) French verbs are formed by: a stem + an ending (-ER, -RE, -IR)

3) To use the verbs in different tenses, we need to know some rules. These rules are simple and are applied to nearly all verbs. 

4) Unfortunately, some verbs do not follow these rules and it is therefore important to know these IRREGULAR VERBS such as “aller” (to go), “faire” (to do), “avoir” (to have) or “être” (to be). 

5) Tenses:

Le présent (pg 2)

Le passé composé (pg 4-6)

L’imparfait (pg 6)

Le futur simple (pg 7)

Le conditionnel (pg 8)

Le Présent

When to use it:To talk about what is happening at the moment

To talk about what happens usually/normally

Time phrases:Tous les jours (everyday), chaque jour (everyday), chaque matin (every morning), parfois (sometimes), etc.

Regular Verbs

1) ER verbs:  take off the –ER and add the endings

2) IR verbs: take off the –IR and add the endings

3) RE verbs: take off the –RE and add the endings

Examples:

ParlerFinirVendre

Je parleJe finisJe vends

Tu parlesTu finisTu vends

Il/Elle parleIl/Elle finitIl/Elle vend

Nous parlonsNous finissonsNous vendons

Vous parlezVous finissezVous vendez

Il/Elles parlentIls/Elles finissentIls/Elles vendent

Irregular Verbs

As in every French tense there are always irregular verbs. These verbs do not follow the rules. You just have to learn them!

Examples:

ÊtreAvoirAllerFaire

Je suisJ’aiJe vaisJe fais

Tu esTu asTu vasTu fais

Il/Elle est Il/Elle aIl/Elle vaIl/Elle fait

Nous sommesNous avonsNous allonsNous faisons

Vous êtesVous avezVous allezVous faisez

Ils/Elles sontIls/Elles ontIls/Elles vontIls/Elles font

Le Passé Composé

When to use it:To talk about something that has happened in the past and is now finished.

Time phrases: La semaine dernière (last week), hier (yesterday), etc.

Le passé composé is made up of 2 parts:

1) The auxiliary verb (the present tense of AVOIR or ÊTRE)

+

2) The past participle (donné, parlé, sorti, fait, etc)

Regular AVOIR Verbs

The present tense of avoir + the past participle

Donner

Finir

Vendre

J’ai donné

J’ai fini

J’ai vendu

Tu as donné

Tu as fini

Tu as vendu

Il/Elle a donné

Il/Elle a fini

Il/Elle a vendu 

Nous avons donné

Nous avons fini

Nous avons vendu

Vous avez donné

Vous avez fini

Vous avez vendu

Ils/Elles ont donné

Ils/Elles ont fini

Ils/Elles ont vendu

Irregular AVOIR verbs

There is…