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Tense guides
French tense guides
Understand when to use each French tense, how to recognise it, and how to form it.
Infinitive
The dictionary form of the verb, used after many other verbs and prepositions.
Present
Use the present for what is happening now, repeated habits, general truths, and near-future plans when context makes the time clear.
Passé composé
The everyday past tense for completed actions: what happened, what someone did, or what has happened.
Imperfect
Use the imperfect for background, descriptions, repeated past habits, and actions that were in progress.
Near future
Talk about plans and actions expected soon with the everyday aller + infinitive construction.
Future
Talk about future events, predictions, promises, and plans stated as facts.
Simple past
A written-story past tense for completed events, common in literature and history but rare in conversation.
Conditional present
Express what would happen, polite requests, advice, wishes, and imagined situations.
Subjunctive present
Use the present subjunctive after expressions of need, doubt, emotion, desire, judgment, or purpose.
Subjunctive imperfect
A rare literary subjunctive for past contexts, mostly useful for reading formal or older texts.
Imperative
Give commands, instructions, suggestions, warnings, or invitations directly to someone.
Present participle
A verbal form in -ant that describes an action as ongoing or characteristic.
Past participle
A form used with avoir or être to build compound past tenses, and sometimes as an adjective.
Gerund
Use en + present participle to show while doing, by doing, or through doing another action.
