Verb tenses in French
The indicative mood
In French, there are a total of 10 tenses in the indicative mood (4 simple tenses, 4 composed tenses and 2 conditional tenses). In this lesson, we will focus on simple and composed tenses.
| Simple tense | Composed tense |
| Present | Present perfect |
| Future | Future perfect |
| Past imperfect | Past perfect |
| Past preterite (rarely used orally) | Past anterior (rarely used) |
Present tense
The present tense is used to describe actions that are currently happening or ongoing, as well as general truths or habits.
•Je mange une pomme. (I am eating an apple.)
•Les chiens aboient. (Dogs bark.)
Future tense
The future tense is used to talk about actions that will happen in the future.
•Je voyagerai en Europe l'été prochain. (I will travel to Europe next summer.)
•Nous irons au cinéma demain soir. (We will go to the cinema tomorrow night.)
Past imperfect
The past imperfect tense is used to describe ongoing or repeated actions in the past. It is also used to describe background information or past states of being.
•Quand j'étais petit, je jouais souvent au football. (When I was little, I used to play soccer often.)
•Il faisait beau ce jour-là. (It was nice weather that day.)
Past preterite
The past preterite (or simple past) is used to describe completed actions in the past.
•Il tomba nez à nez avec son pire ennemi. (He came face to face with his worst enemy.)
•Elle finit son livre aussitôt. (She immediately finished her book.)
Present perfect
The present perfect tense is used to describe actions that began in the past and continue into the present, or actions that were completed in the recent past.
•J'ai étudié le français pendant cinq ans. (I have studied French for five years.)
•Elle a mangé son petit-déjeuner ce matin. (She has eaten her breakfast this morning.)
Future perfect
The future perfect tense is used to describe actions that will be completed at some point in the future.
•J'aurai fini mes devoirs avant le dîner. (I will have finished my homework before dinner.)
•Nous aurons déménagé dans deux semaines. (We will have moved in two weeks.)
Past perfect
The past perfect tense is used to describe actions that were completed before another past action.
•J'avais fini de manger quand il est arrivé. (I had finished eating when he arrived.)
•Elle avait lu le livre avant de voir le film. (She had read the book before seeing the movie.)
Past anterior
The past anterior (or past perfect simple) is used to describe actions that were completed before another past action, often in written or formal language.
•J'eus fini mes devoirs avant que mes parents rentrent à la maison. (I had finished my homework before my parents came home.)
•Elle eut mangé son repas avant le début de la réunion. (She had eaten her meal before the start of the meeting.)