French Tenses Sheet

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The Present Tense:
Group 1: -er verbs
Singular
1st-person
e
2nd-person
es
3rd-person
e

je parle
tu parles
il parle; elle parle; on parle
nous parlons
vous parlez
ils parlent; elles parlent

Group 2: -ir verbs

Singular
1st-person
is
2nd-person
is
3rd-person
it

Plural
ons
ez
ent

Plural
issons
issez
issent

je finis
tu finis
il finit; elle finit; on finit
nous finissons
vous finissez
ils finissent; elles finissent

Group 3: -re verbs

Singular
1st-person
s
2nd-person
s
3rd-person

Plural
ons
ez
ent

je perds
tu perds
il perd; elle perd; on perd
nous perdons
vous perdez
ils perdent; elles perdent
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Le Pass Compos:
Avoir
singular
1st-person
ai
2nd-person
as
3rd-person
a

plural
avons
avez +
ont

past participle

tre
singular
1st-person
suis
2nd-person
es
3rd-person
est

plural
sommes
tes +
sont

past participle

These are the verbs that use tre as the auxilary: aller, arriver, descendre, devenir, entre,
monter, mourir, natre, partir, passer, rentre, rester, retourner, revenir, sortir, tomber,
venir
When a direct object follows descendre, monter, passer, and sortir, they will use "avoir"
as the auxilary.
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The Imperfect Tense:
The imperfect tense is formed by taking the 1st person plural ("nous" form) of the present tense,
dropping the "ons" ending, and then adding the appropriate ending from the list below.
Singular
Plural
1st-person
ais
ions
2nd-person
ais
iez
3rd-person
ait
aient
je parlais
tu parlais
il parlait; elle parlait; on parlait
nous parlions
vous parliez
ils parlaient; elles parlaient
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The Future Tense:
The future tense is formed by adding the appropriate ending to the infinitive form of the verb.
However, for "re" verbs, remove the final "e" before adding the ending.
Keep in mind that there is another way to express the near future in French, called the
futur proche.

 It is formed by using aller + infinitive. This is the equivalent of "___ going" in

English.
Elle va visiter un muse. = She is going to visit a museum.

Singular
1st-person
ai
2nd-person
as
3rd-person
a

Plural
ons
ez
ont

je parlerai
tu parleras
il parlera; elle parlera; on parlera
nous parlerons
vous parlerez
ils parleront; elles parleront
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The Conditional Tense :
The conditional tense is formed by adding the appropriate ending to the infinitive of the verb.
However, for "re" verbs, remove the final "e" before adding the ending.
The conditional will mainly be used as the equivalent of "would", or in other words, to express
an action that would happen if it were not for a certain circumstance. It is also used to make
polite requests.
Singular
1st-person
ais
2nd-person
ais
3rd-person
ait

Plural
ions
iez
aient

je parlerais
tu parlerais
il parlerait; elle parlerait; on parlerait
nous parlerions
vous parleriez
ils parleraient; elles parleraient

**Si clause :
Si clause goes in imparfait, result clause in the conditional.
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The Subjunctive:
Used for necessity: il faut que, il est ncessaire que, il est important que
Ils/Elles form + :
-e
-ions
-es
-iez
-e
-ent
Irregulars aller (aille, ailles, aiile, allions, alliez, aillent)
Avoir (aie, aies, ait, ayons, ayez, aient)
Etre (sois, sois, soit, soyons, soyez, soient)
Faire (fasse, fasses, fasse, fassions, fassiez, fassent)
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