French verb tenses confuse English speakers more than almost anything else in the language. Not because there are too many — English has plenty — but because the mapping between French and English tenses is not one-to-one.
This guide covers the tenses you'll actually use in everyday French, when to use them, and where English speakers consistently go wrong.
The present tense (le présent)
French present tense works like English present tense for facts and habitual actions:
Je parle français. → I speak French.
Elle travaille tous les jours. → She works every day.
But here's the key difference: French uses the simple present where English would use the present continuous.
Je mange. → I eat or I am eating.
French doesn't have a required progressive tense the way English does. That said, you can express an ongoing action explicitly with être en train de + infinitive:
Je suis en train de manger. → I am (in the middle of) eating.
This construction is common in spoken French when you want to emphasise that something is happening right now, but it's not required — the simple present covers both meanings in most contexts.
How to form it
For regular -er verbs (the most common), remove the -er and add:
| Subject | Ending | Example (parler) |
|---|---|---|
| je | -e | je parle |
| tu | -es | tu parles |
| il/elle | -e | il parle |
| nous | -ons | nous parlons |
| vous | -ez | vous parlez |
| ils/elles | -ent | ils parlent |
Note: the final -e, -es, -ent endings are all silent. Je parle, tu parles, and ils parlent all sound identical.
The two past tenses
This is where most English speakers hit a wall. French has two main past tenses and choosing the wrong one is a very common error.
Passé composé — completed actions
Use passé composé for actions that are finished, have a clear endpoint, or happened a specific number of times:
J'ai mangé une pizza. → I ate a pizza. (done, finished)
Elle est allée au marché. → She went to the market.
Nous avons vu ce film trois fois. → We have seen that film three times.
Formation: avoir or être (present) + past participle
Most verbs use avoir:
j'ai parlé, tu as parlé, il a parlé...
A specific set of verbs (movement/state verbs + all reflexive verbs) use être:
je suis allé(e), tu es allé(e), il est allé...
When using être, the past participle usually agrees with the subject in gender and number:
Elle est partie. (feminine, singular)
Ils sont partis. (masculine, plural)
Exception — reflexive verbs: the participle agrees with the subject only when the reflexive pronoun is the direct object. When a direct object follows the verb, there is no agreement:
Elle s'est lavée. (she washed herself — agreement, se is the direct object)
Elle s'est lavé les mains. (she washed her hands — no agreement, les mains is the direct object, se is indirect)
Imparfait — ongoing states and habitual past actions
Use imparfait for:
- Background states: what things were like
- Habitual actions: what used to happen
- Ongoing actions that were interrupted
Quand j'étais enfant, je jouais au foot tous les weekends.
→ When I was a child, I used to play football every weekend.
Il pleuvait quand je suis sorti.
→ It was raining when I went out.
(imparfait for the background state, passé composé for the completed action)
Formation: Take the nous present form, remove -ons, add: -ais, -ais, -ait, -ions, -iez, -aient
nous parlons → parl- → je parlais, tu parlais, il parlait...
Major exception — être: its nous form is nous sommes, but the imparfait stem is irregular: j'étais, tu étais, il était, nous étions, vous étiez, ils étaient. Do not form it from somm-.
The key distinction
| Passé composé | Imparfait |
|---|---|
| Completed action | Ongoing state / background |
| Happened once, specifically | Happened habitually |
| Interrupting action | Action being interrupted |
| J'ai dormi 8 heures. | Je dormais quand... |
The future tenses
Simple future (futur simple)
Used for things that will happen, plans, and predictions:
Demain, je parlerai à mon chef. → Tomorrow, I will speak to my boss.
Formation: Infinitive + the endings -ai, -as, -a, -ons, -ez, -ont
For -er and -ir verbs, attach directly to the infinitive:
parler → je parlerai, tu parleras, il parlera, nous parlerons, vous parlerez, ils parleront
For -re verbs, drop the final -e first, then add endings:
vendre → vendr- → je vendrai, tu vendras, il vendra...
Irregular stems (must memorise): être → ser-, avoir → aur-, aller → ir-, faire → fer-, vouloir → voudr-
Near future (futur proche)
For things about to happen or firmly planned:
Je vais manger. → I'm going to eat. / I'm about to eat.
Formation: aller (present) + infinitive — identical to English "going to" structure.
This is the most natural-sounding future in spoken French. Native speakers use futur proche far more than futur simple in everyday conversation.
The conditional (le conditionnel)
For polite requests and hypothetical situations — equivalent to English "would":
Je voudrais un café. → I would like a coffee. (polite ordering)
Si j'avais de l'argent, j'achèterais une maison. → If I had money, I would buy a house.
Formation: Futur simple stem + imparfait endings (-ais, -ais, -ait, -ions, -iez, -aient)
je parlerais, tu parlerais, il parlerait...
Common mistakes to avoid
1. Confusing passé composé and imparfait
J'avais mangé (I had eaten — wrong for simple past) vs. J'ai mangé (I ate — correct)
2. Forgetting être verbs in passé composé
The DR MRS VANDERTRAMP mnemonic helps: Devenir, Revenir, Mourir, Retourner, Sortir, Venir, Aller, Naître, Descendre, Entrer, Rentrer, Tomber, Rester, Arriver, Monter, Partir, Passer — these use être when intransitive (no direct object).
Important exception: several of these verbs switch to avoir when used transitively (with a direct object), and the meaning shifts:
- Elle est sortie. (She went out — intransitive, être)
- J’ai sorti les clés. (I took out the keys — transitive, avoir)
- Il est monté. (He went up — intransitive, être)
- J’ai monté la valise. (I brought the suitcase up — transitive, avoir)
The verbs most commonly affected: sortir, monter, descendre, rentrer, retourner, passer.
3. Using futur simple where futur proche sounds more natural
In conversation, je vais partir sounds far more natural than je partirai for something happening soon.
See these tenses in action — paste any French sentence into Apprendr and get a grammar breakdown that identifies exactly which tense is being used and why.