Tenses in French

Les temps: Present – Futur – Imparfait / Present – Future – Imperfect

In French, there are many tenses: present, past, imperfect, future, indicative, conditional, subjunctive, imperative, participle, infinitive active, passive, and pronominal. However in this lesson we will only cover only three tenses which are present, future and imperfect. These tenses are enough for a beginner in his conversations in French.

Regular verbs

For the regular verbs ending in er like aimer ( to like/love), parler(to  speak), donner( to give), the conjugation in the present, future and imperfect tense is:

F Examples:

-        J’aime la nature – I love nature.

-        Elle aime les fraises – She likes strawberries.

For the regular verbs ending in ir like choisir ( to choose), maigrir( to lose weight), nourrir( to feed),  the conjugation in the present, future and imperfect tense is:

F Examples:

-        Je finirai mon travail demain – I will finish my work tomorrow.

-        Ils finissent leur dîner – They are finishing their dinner.

For the regular verbs ending in re like rendre ( to give back), répondre( to answer), vendre( to sell),  the conjugation in the present, future and imperfect tense is:

F  Examples :

-        Il vend des pommes – He sells apples.

-        Nous vendrons notre maison – we will sell our house

Irregular verbs:

Avoir/ to have

Boire/ to drink

Devoir/have to

Dormir/to sleep