It's no secret that the grammar of the French language is quite complex, which can cause difficulties in the learning process. But nothing is insurmountable; everything can be sorted out. This classification will make it easier to understand and remember the tenses of French verbs
There are much more tenses in French than in Russian and they are divided into simple and complex tenses. Simple ones are formed without the use of auxiliary verbs, while complex ones are formed with their help. There are only four auxiliary verbs: être, avoir, venir and aller. The last two auxiliary verbs are used to form the immediate past and the near future tenses (immédiat tenses), while the remaining tenses are formed using être or avoir in a specific form.
Before considering individual tenses, it is worth remembering that French verbs change according to moods. It is the mood that indicates how the action that the verb expresses relates to reality. French has four moods.
Verbs of the first, indicative mood (Indicatif) denote a very real action that happened, is happening at the moment or will actually happen in the future. Verbs of this mood change tenses.
The present tense (Présent) of the indicative mood is used to denote an action occurring in the present or an action of a timeless nature, that is, inherent in all times. It can be used in the meaning of the future if the speaker is absolutely sure that the described event or action will happen. Formed by adding the endings -е -еs -e (for the singular of the first group), -is -is -it (for the singular of the second group) and -s/x -s/x -t/d (for the singular of the third groups). The endings for plural verbs are the same for all groups: -ons -ez/es -ent, only for verbs of the second group the suffix -iss is added before the ending.
Examples: je parle - I say; nous finissons - we are finishing;
There are seven past tenses in French, each of which brings a certain nuance to the meaning of the sentence as a whole.
Thus, Passé immédiat expresses an action related to the past tense, which has just ended or recently. For example: Tu as vu la lettre? -Have you seen the letter?
Passé immédiat dans le passé is used to agree tenses when the verb of the main clause is used in the past tense or the story is told in the past tense. For example: Quand je lui ai telephoné, il venait de lire la lettre. When I called him, he had just read the letter.
Imparfait expresses a long unfinished action in the past, a general description of the past tense, or a description of routine actions taking place in the past. This tense can also be used to express a polite wish or proposal to do something, or in interrogative and exclamatory sentences after si. Examples: il neigeait - it was snowing; il se levait à six heures du matin - he usually got up at six in the morning; si l'on prenait du café ou du thé? -Should we have a cup of coffee or tea?
Passé composé answers the questions “what did/did you do?” and expresses past actions clearly limited in time, and Passé simple, in turn, is used to express a past action that has no connection with the present and is often used in written speech. For example, elle est venue hier - she arrived (Passécomposé); Rodin naquit en 1840 - Rodin was born in 1840 (Passé simple).
Plus-que-parfait is used to express the sequence of completed actions, that is, it makes it clear which action happened before and which after it. Can express assumptions or regret regarding a past action if used after si. For example, elle a dit qu’il était venu hier - she said that she arrived yesterday.
The last tense that we will consider, Passé antérieur, is used in conjunction with passé simple and using temporary conjunctions to express a sequence of actions. For example, Dès qu’elle eut lu cette telegramme, elles’y intéressa - As soon as she read this telegram, she became interested in it.
There are only six tenses related to the future tense of the indicative mood, including those already known to us.
Futur immédiat is used to express an action that must take place in the very near future, as well as to convey orders and advice. For example, elle va terminer l"école l'année prochaine - She will graduate from school next year.
Sentences that are composed using Futur immédiat dans le passé express the near future action in relation to the past tense, that is, “I was about to do something,” moreover, it is used if the narrative is about the past tense, to coordinate times. For example, il allait sortir lorsque sa mère est venue - he was about to go out when his mother arrived.
Futur simple expresses a future action, a polite order or request, and can denote an intended action. Such sentences will be translated into Russian using the words “should be, probably, probably, possibly.” For example, on se rencontrera après-demain - we’ll meet the day after tomorrow.
The use of Futur dansle passé is due to the need to express an action in the future in relation to a past action or is used to coordinate tenses if the verb in the main clause is expressed in the past tense. For example, Ils auraient une maison blanche de pierres blanches, ils rêvaient de vivre à la campagne - they will have a white stone house, they dreamed of living in the village.
Futur antérieur expresses an action that will be performed in the future before someone else's future action, in the case of using certain temporal prepositions, such as: aussitôt que, dès que, sitôt que, quand, à peine…que, lorsque. Can convey a possible action that relates to the past. For example, je ne trouve pas mon crayon. Je l’aurai oublié chez moi - I can’t find the pencil, I probably forgot it at home.
Futur antérieur dans le passé is used to coordinate tenses, and also expresses an action that will take place in the future earlier than another future action. For example, Il m'a dit qu'il me téléphonerait dés qu'il aurait reçu leur réponse - he said that will call me as soon as he receives an answer.
Conditional verbs do not denote a real action, but only something that is possible when certain conditions are met (in Russian, such sentences are constructed with the particle “would”). In this mood, two tenses are distinguished: present (présent) and past (passé). Verbs in the present tense denote actions that can be carried out, and verbs used in the past tense denote actions that could have been carried out in the past, but for some reason were not implemented and now this can no longer happen. Examples: Si tu me l’expliques, je resterai. - I will stay if you explain to me (the present). J'aurais pu être père! - I could be a father! (past).
The subjunctive mood (Subjonctif) is used to denote actions that are presented from a subjective point of view and express the desires, uncertainties, and fears of the speaker. Previously, in French, four different tenses were used within this mood, but now only two are actively used - présent and passé. For example, qu’ils fassent ce qu’ils veulent - let them do what they want. Qu'elle danse - Let her dance.
And the last, fourth mood - imperative or Impératif, denotes an action that expresses an order, request, advice, encouragement to action. As in the previous two moods, two tenses are used - present and passé. For example, attendons! - let's wait! Vas-y! - Go there! Levez-vous! - get up!
We are glad to welcome all lovers of the French language to our website! Today we will talk about the past tense of French verbs. What is past tense? This is a tense that indicates action in the past.
The fact is that in French there are several types of past tense. And although not all of them are used in oral speech and, sometimes, the French themselves make mistakes in this matter, however, in written speech it is very important to use tenses correctly.
We use Le Passé Composé most often
This is true, friends. If we don’t know how to correctly coordinate tenses in a sentence, or which past tense to use to make the sentence grammatically correct, Passé Composé comes to the rescue – past compound (complex) tense . The French themselves do not always agree on tenses, especially in oral speech. And in order to save time, I put the verbs in the Passé Composé if the action took place in the past, and moved on.
Le Passé Composé means a complete action and is formed using the present tense verb Avoir + participe passé conjugated verb. Each group of verbs has its own ending in participe passé (past participle): 1st group - é; 2nd group – i; Well, and the 3rd group - there are capricious verbs, each with its own ending. So let's conjugate the verbs!
Verb conjugation in Passé composé| Commencer - to begin J'ai commencé Ill/elle a commencé | Rougier - to blush Il/elle a rougi | Ouvrir – open Il/elle a ouvert |
All verbs in Passé Composé are conjugated with the verb Avoir, but there are 12 verbs (together with their derivatives) that are conjugated with the verb Etre:
- naître(p. p. né) - to be born,
- aller(p. p. allé) - to go,
- venir(p. p. venu) - to come,
- entrer (p. p. entré) - to enter,
- monter (p. p. monté) - to rise,
- rester(p. p. resté) - to stay,
- descendre(p. p. descendu) - to descend,
- sortir(p. p. sorti) - go out,
- partir(p. p. parti) - to leave,
- arriver(p. p. arrive) - to arrive,
- tomber(p. p. tombé) - to fall,
- mourir (p. p. mort) - to die.
All reflexive verbs are also conjugated with the verb Etre.
To conjugate the verbs “to have” and “to be” in Passé Composé, you need to know their participe passé: Avoir – eu and Etre – été.
Le Passé Simple – what you need in writing
Passé Simple is the simple past tense and denotes a completed action. But it is not as rustic as its name suggests. Here you need to know the forms and endings of verbs to conjugate them in a given tense. Passé Simple is never used in spoken speech, and always in written speech when it comes to past actions. It is formed like this: the stem of the verb + the endings necessary for each group. In this table, the endings are highlighted:
| 1st group Parler – talk Tu parl as Il/elle parl a Nous parl âmes Vous parl ates Ils/elles parl èrent | 2nd group Finir - finish Je fin is Tu fin is Il/elle fin it Nous fin îmes Vous fin îtes Ils/elles fin irent | Je l is Tu l is Il/elle l it Nous l îmes Vous l îtes Ils/ells l irent
Je p us Tu p us Il/elle p ut Nous p ûmes Vous p utes Ils/ells p Urent |
Avoir/Etre:
J'eus/fus
Tu eus/fus
Il/elle eut/fut
Nous eûmes/fûmes
Vous eûtes/fûtes
Ils/elles eurent/furent
L’Imparfait – if the action is not completed
L’Imparfait is perhaps one of the easier tenses of the French verb. There are always stable endings for any group; the main thing is to correctly identify the stem of the verb. L’Imparfait indicates an unfinished action in the past tense and corresponds to the imperfect form of verbs in Russian.
Je parl ais
finissais, mettais
Tu parl ais
finissais, mettais
Il/elle parl ait
finissait, mettait
Nous parl ions
finissions, mettions
Vous parl iez
finissiez, mettiez
Ils/elles parl aient
finissaient, mettaient
Avoir/Etre:
J'avais/étais
Tu avais/etais
Il/elle avait/était
Nous avions/étions
Vous aviez/etiez
Ils/elles avaient/étaient
Le Passé Antérieur – direct past tense
This tricky tense is not used in spoken speech, but only in written speech. It should be used only after certain conjunctions:
- quand - when
- lorsque - when
- après que - after
- des que - as soon as
- aussitôt que - as soon as
- sitôt que - as soon as
- à peine que - barely.
The verbs in Passé Antérieur are conjugated with the verb Avoir and Etre (the same 12 verbs, see above) in the Passé Simple + participe passé of the conjugated verb:
j' eus parlé nous eûmes parlé
tu eus parlé vous eûtes parlé
il/elle eut parlé ils/elles eurent parlé
je fus allé nous fûmes allé
tu fus allé vous futes allé
il/elle fut allé ils/elles furent allé
Example: Dès que Jean eut lu cette nouvelle, il s’y interior. - As soon as Jean read this news, he became interested in it.
Le Passé Immédiat – you have just performed an action
As the name suggests, this past tense indicates that an action has just taken place. We conjugate the verbs in Passé Immédiat using the verb Venir + de + the infinitive of the verb:
Je viens de faire
Tu viens de faire
Il/elle vient de faire
Nous venons de faire
Vous venez de faire
Ils/elles viennent de faire
Le Passé Surcomposé and Le Plus-que-Parfait
These two tenses play an important role in coordinating tenses in a sentence, but we will talk about this in our next lessons. The pattern of Passé Surcomposé is: Avoir (Etre) in Passé Composé + participe passé of the verb.
J'ai eu parlé
J'ai été entré
The Plus-que-Parfait scheme is as follows: Avoir (Etre) in I ;pqrfqit + participe passé of the verb.
J'avais parlé
J'étais entre
If you are still new to the French language, then you should not plunge headlong into the use of each tense, the reasons, etc. To begin with, learn to conjugate verbs, do not be afraid to make mistakes, knowledge comes to us through mistakes.
As you can see, friends, there are quite a lot of past tenses in the French language. We will look at all this clearly with examples in the article on the coordination of tenses. For now, you can practice conjugating verbs and learn endings. We wish you success!
Learn French numbers from 1 to 59. To tell the time, you need to know all the possible hours and minutes. If necessary, you can brush up on your knowledge with this phonetics list. At a minimum you should know:
- 1–12: une ("yun"), deux (de), trois (trois), quatre (katr), cinq (san:k), six (sis), sept (set), huit ("yuit"), neuf ( nave), dix (dis), onze (he:z), douze (duz).
- 15, 30, 45: quinze (kyan:z), trente (tran:t), quarante-cinq (kyaran:t-san:k).
Use " Quelle heure est-il? " to find out what time it is. This phrase is pronounced "Keler e-til?" and means “What time is it?”
- The word "temps" means "time", but only as a period: when you talk about time spent somewhere, hard times or fun times, and so on. The question “What time is it?” You can’t make up with him. In French, a phrase similar to the Russian “What time is it?” is used: “heure” means “hour”, and “quelle” - “which one” (feminine, since “hour” is feminine in French) /
- In informal communication, you can also say: “Avez-vous l"heure?” (“Do you have an hour?”).
Use "Il est______ heure" to tell the time. To say “it is the hour (of day or night),” you would say “Il est une heure.” In Russian we can omit a few words and answer briefly, for example “three” instead of “three hours”; in French we always add “heure” after the number.
- If the time is more than an hour, use the plural. For example, two hours - “deux heure s"(de seur), and five o'clock - "cinq heure s" (san: ker). This is important to remember in writing, but when you hear the singular and plural, they sound the same.
Add minutes after "heure". When literally translated from French, 2:15 is “two hours fifteen.” So to say in French that it's 2:15, you'd say "Il est deux heures quinze" or "Il est deux heures et quart." , that is, “two hours fifteen” or “two hours and a quarter.” This applies to any number of minutes.
- 4:27 - Il est quatre heures vingt-sept.
- 10:12 - Il est dix heures douze.
- 7:30 - Il est dix heures trente.
Learn the abbreviations for half and quarter hours. As in Russian, in French you can say “half” or “quarter” when talking about time. Half will be “demie” (demi), and a quarter will be “quart” (kyar). In French, instead of “half/quarter of such and such” we say “so many hours and half/quarter”, so these words can be added after “heure(s)” using the conjunction “et” (e), which means “and " For example, 4:30 in French would be “Il est quatre heures et demie”, that is, “four hours and a half.”
- As in Russian, both options are correct - “4:15” and “4 and a quarter.” They're just two ways of saying the same thing.
Use "moins" to say "without so many minutes." In Russian we can say that 6:45 is a quarter to seven, and 12:50 is ten to ten. In French, the word used for this is “moins,” which means “without” or “minus.” Therefore, if it is 6:45, we can say: “Il est sept heures moins le quart” (il est sept heures moins le quart) or “Il est sept heures moins quart” (without the “le”), which literally translates like "a quarter to seven."
- Many French speakers would rather say the time this way than use big numbers like 45 to 50.
- 45 minutes can also be designated as “three quarters”, that is, for 6:45 you say “si zer e trois kyar).
Time and clocks surround us everywhere. After all, time is our life. We constantly ask or say, “What time is it? What time will you arrive? I have to be at work at ten. I don't have any free time." We look at the clock every time we are in a hurry and are afraid of being late.
The French are subject to exactly the same problems! And today, as you may have guessed, our conversation will be about watches, time and everything connected with it. How to ask a question about time, how to answer such a question - we will talk about this and much more in our article.
Quelle heure est-il, s’il vous plaît?
Let's look at how you can answer the question about time in French:
Asking a question about time in FrenchQuelle heure est-il? - What time is it?
- 8.00 - Il est huit heures (précises) (du matin / du soir). - 8 hours (exactly) (am/pm).
- 8.10 - Il est huit heures dix. - 8 hours 10 minutes.
- 8.15 - Il est huit heures quinze. = Il est huit heures et quart. - 8 hours fifteen minutes = 8 hours and a quarter.
- 8.30 - Il est huit heures trente. = Il est huit heures et demie. - 8 hours thirty minutes. = Half past nine.
- 8.45 - Il est huit heures quarante-cinq. = Il est neuf heures moins le quart (quinze). - 8 hours forty-five minutes. = Fifteen to nine.
- 8.55 - Il est neuf heures moins cinq. - Five minutes to nine.
- 12.00 - Il est midi. - Noon.
- 24.00 - Il est minuit. - Midnight.
- 3.00 - Il est trois heures du matin (de l’après-midi). - 3 a.m. (afternoon = afternoon).
Now friends, pay attention to the following questions about time and possible answers to them in French:
- Quelle heure est-il, s’il vous plaît? – Il est neuf heures et demie.– What time is it, please? - It's half past nine now.
- A quelle heure reviens-tu à la maison? – Je reviens à la maison à cinq heures du soir.- What time do you return home? – I return home at five o’clock in the evening.
- Peux-tu venir chez moi demain à neuf heures? - Non, je ne réussirai pas, je viendrai à dix heures moins le quart.-Can you come to me tomorrow at nine o'clock? - No, I won’t make it, I’ll arrive at fifteen minutes to ten.
- Vous êtes en retard de dix minutes. – Excusez-moi, je me suis réveillé à huit heures.- You are ten minutes late. - Sorry, I woke up at eight o'clock.
- A quelle heure dois-je t’attendre? - J'arrive à six heures.- What time should I expect you? - I'll come at six o'clock.
- A quelle heure arrive le train? – Le train arrive à sept heures et dix minutes.– What time does the train arrive? - The train arrives at seven o'clock ten minutes.
- Quelles sont tes heures de fonctionnement?– What are your working hours?
Time in French Please note: Une heure et demie - an hour and a half (one and a half hours) BUT! Un demi-heure – half an hour.
And a few more details...
Dear readers, we would like to draw your attention to some details that show the time in French. The fact is that the French designation of time is somewhat different from the Russian one. Remember the following rules:
- Question: “What time is it?” in French can be specified in several ways: “Quelle heure est – il?” and a more polite option “Vous avez l'heure s'il vous plaît?- Do you have a watch?
- In French, time does not have such a concept as “night”, that is, there is a division: morning (from one o’clock in the morning until noon), noon, afternoon (from one o’clock in the afternoon until six o’clock in the evening), evening (from six o’clock until midnight). Accordingly, after specifying the time, you can add expressions "du matin - morning", “de l’après – midi – day”, "du soir - evenings", but this is not a prerequisite.
- In French, before half (for example, before 10:30), minutes are added to the previous hour, and after half, minutes are subtracted from the next hour. Please note: Il est deux heures vingt (14:20). Il est trois heures moins vingt (14:40).
- Word "minute(s)" is not used in French tense, but it is implied, so we say: « Il estcinq heures une" (17:01).
- Quarter in French "le quart", but it’s correct to say: "Il est dix heures et quart" (10:15), while "Il est onze heures moins le quart" (10:45) , that is, when a quarter is added, the expression will be used "et quart", and when it is taken away - "Moins le quart".
What do you do at different times of the day? Now, dear readers, perhaps you are wondering how the different types of watches are written in French:
- La montre – wristwatch
- Le sablier – hourglass
- Les horloges murales – wall clocks
- La montre de poche – pocket watch
- Le cadran solaire – sundial
- Le coucou – cuckoo clock
- La comtoise – grandfather clock
- L’horloge de table – table clock
- Le cadran – dial
- Regler l'horloge/la montre, etc. - set the clock
Friends, at the beginning of learning French, beginners may have difficulty with how to correctly answer questions about time, but in fact, it is not difficult at all.
The main thing is to study the rules very carefully and say the time out loud in French, substituting different numbers. The question is to study everything well. Good luck to you!
When studying French, we encounter difficulties in forming tense verbs. However, it is also important to understand their use. Let's figure it out.
The simplest tense in French is Indicatif Présent Actif. It is used:
When an action is performed at the moment of speaking - J'ecris mon article.
. when it comes to truly established facts - La Terre est ronde.
. to express everyday actions - Ma mère cuisine pour mon père.
. to express the future tense, when the action is no longer questioned - Je pars demain.
. to express an action in the past - in colloquial speech, when the story is lively and relaxed - Et je prends mon frère et je vais chez mon ami...
Things are more difficult with past tenses, which have no analogue in the Russian language. When studying the group of past tenses in French, you should distinguish and clearly understand the difference between Passé Composé and Imparfait:
French verb tenses - Imparfait:
- expresses a past unfinished action. The action is unlimited by any time frame. - Je travaillais beaucoup.
- The action is incomplete. - Je pensais beaucoup. I thought a lot.
Passé Composé:
- action in the past is limited in time (markers such as tout le jour, pendant six heures, etc. are often used) - J’ai travaillé tout le jour.
- The action is complete. - J'ai acheté le cadeau.
These are the main differences between Passé Composé and Imparfait. In addition, Imparfait is used in the following cases:
- When an action describes a state in the past - J’étais content de te voir.
- When a repeated action is described - J’allais à l’ecole chaque jour.
However, we should not forget about controversial cases where you can make a mistake. So, for example, with the marker “souvent” we will use Passé Composé, since “often” implies a limited number of times. And with “hier” Imparfait can also be used depending on the context:
Quand j"étais jeune, j'ai souvent fait du sport.
Hier il faisait froid.
Hier j'ai acheté mon cadeau.
French verb tenses. Plus-que-parfait also belongs to the group of past tenses in French. This tense expresses an action that precedes an action in the past.
Il a lu trois pages et compris qu’il n’avait pas fait attention à ce qu’il lisait.
Passé and Futur Immédiat express an action that has just been done or that will be done in the very near future.
Passé Immédiat: Je viens d'arriver. - I just arrived.
Futur Immédiat: Je vais sortir maintenant. - I'm leaving now.
Futur Simple expresses an action similar to the future tense of the Russian language.
Je partirai pour me vacances le 9 juin.
There is also another past tense, Passé Simple, which, however, is rarely used in modern language. This tense describes actions from the distant past and is often found in fiction.
French verb tenses. Formation of temporary forms.
According to education, French verb tenses are divided into simple and compound. Simple tenses are formed by changing the form of the semantic verb, while compound tenses require an auxiliary verb to form. So, let's start in order. The key to French verbs lies in knowing the present tense forms (Indicatif Présent Actif) of the given verbs.
The formation of present tense forms varies depending on the verb group. Pay attention to the table of formation of Indicatif Présent Actif forms for all three groups:
I group II group III group
je mange je remplis je courses
tu manges tu remplis tu courses
il mange il remplit il court
nous mangeons nous remplissons nous courons
vous mangez vous remplissez vous courtez
ils mangent ils remplissent ils courent
Thus, knowing the simple present forms of French verbs, we can easily form Indicatif Imparfait, Passé Composé, as well as Passé and Futur Immédiat. To do this, we only need the endings of a given time, which we need to remember.
Passé Compose
To form Passé Composé, we need to know the real form of the auxiliary verbs avoir and être, as well as the Participe Passé of the main semantic verb. Thus, Passé Composé = avoir/ être in Présent + Participe Passé of the semantic verb.
Imparfait
To form Imparfait, you need to take the stem of the verb in the Indicatif Présent of the first person plural and add the endings -ais, -ais, -ait, -ions, -iez, -aient.
Thus, for the verb of the second group remplir we get:
je remplissais
tu remplissais
il remplissait
nous remplissions
vous remplissiez
ils remplisaient
Plus-que-parfait
Knowing the temporary form of Imparfait, it will be easy for us to form Plus-que-parfait:
Imparfait of verbs avoir/être + Participe Passé of semantic verb
Future
To form Futur Simple you need to take the stem of the infinitive and add the endings -ai, -as, -a, -ons, -ez, -ont. So for the verb of the first group manger the conjugation in Futur Simple will be as follows:
je mangerai
tu mangeras
il mangera
nous mangerons
vous mangerez
ils mangeront
Passé Immediate
Verb venir in Présent + de + infinitive of the main semantic verb
Future Immediate
The verb aller in Présent + the infinitive of the main semantic verb.
