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Tenses and Conjugation

Tenses & Conjugation

Infinitives

• They are the simplest form of the verb.
• It is equivalent to “To” + Verb in English.
• In French, there are three kinds of verbs depending on their ending: –ER, –IR and –RE

Tenses & Conjugation Rules

• Present (Présent)
  • Present Simple
    • This tense conveys the present time as well as a continuous sense at the same time.
    • Irregular verbs have their conjugation that needs to be remembered—there is no proper rule.
    • To form the present simple conjugation, you have to take the infinitive of the verb, remove the endings and add the following suffixes:

Subject	Ending
–ER	–IR	–RE
Je	-e	-is	-s
Tu	-es	-is	-s
Il/Elle/On	-e	-it
Nous	-ons	-issons	-ons
Vous	-ez	-issez	-ez
Ils/Elles	-ent	-issent	-ent

• Present Continuous
  • This tense conveys the continuous sense in the present.
  • In French, there is no proper conjugation for this tense, however, it is formed by using “être en train de” + infinitive.
• Present Conditional
  • This tense conveys a situation that isn’t real and isn’t happening yet, but it might.

• To form the present conditional conjugation, you have to take the infinitive of the verb and add the following suffixes:

Subject	Suffix
Je	-ais
Tu	-ais
Il/Elle/On	-ait
Nous	-ions
Vous	-iez
Ils/Elles	-aient

• Note: Infinitives that end with –RE, the E must be removed first before applying the conditional endings.
• Past (Passé)
  • Recent Past
    • This tense conveys an action that recently has just been completed.
    • In French, it is formed by using “venir de” + infinitive.
  • Present Perfect (Composed Tense – Passé Composé)
    • This tense conveys an action that has been completed in the past.
    • In French, an auxiliary verb, which is helps convey the past, is required for this which are avoir and être, but they are not interchangeable.

Formation of the Present Perfect
Subject	+	Auxiliary Verb (Avoir or Être in the present)	+	Past Participle

• This tense has past participles which a form of a verb that has been derived to describe something in the past—it can be used in a tense and it can be used as an adjective as well.
• Regular participles can be formed in different ways depending on the ending of the infinitive by firstly removing the ending and adding the following suffixes: 

Ending
–ER	–IR	–RE
-é	-i	-u

• Past participles can be irregular as well:

Infinitive	Meaning	Past Participle
Être	To be	Été
Avoir	To have	Eu
Faire	To do; To make	Fait
Prendre	To take	Pris
Boire	To drink	Bu
Connaître	To know	Connu
Savoir	Su
Croire	To believe	Cru
Devoir	To have to; To must	Dû
Lire	To read	Lu
Dire	To say; To tell	Dit
Pleuvoir	To rain	Plu
Recevoir	To receive	Reçu
Décevoir	To disappoint	Déçu
Vouloir	To want	Voulu
Pouvoir	To be able to; To can	Pu
Voir	To see	Vu
Mettre	To put	Mis
Obtenir	To obtain	Obtenu
Ouvrir	To open	Ouvert
Rire	To laugh	Ri
Suivre	To follow	Suivi
Vivre	To live	Vécu
Tenir	To hold	Tenu
Écrire	To write	Écrit
Offrir	To offer	Offert

• Normally, past participles that take avoir do not agree in gender and number, however, when there is a direct object pronoun that is present before the present participle, the past participles will agree in gender and number relative to the direct object pronoun used.

• Certain verbs use être which are verbs that show movement and action from one place to another/from point A to point B which include the following:

Verbs	Meaning	Past Participle
Naître (exception)	To be born	Né(e)(s)
Mourir (exception)	To die	Mort(e)(s)
Devenir (exception)	To become	Devenu(e)(s)
Venir	To come	Venu(e)(s)
Aller	To go	Allé(e)(s)
Sortir	To go out	Sorti(e)(s)
Revenir	To come back	Revenu(e)(s)
Monter	To climb up	Monté(e)(s)
Descendre	To go down	Descendu(e)(s)
Partir	To leave	Parti(e)(s)
Arriver	To arrive	Arrivé(e)(s)
Entrer	To enter	Entré(e)(s)
Rentrer	To enter again	Rentré(e)(s)
Tomber	To fall	Tombé(e)(s)
Retourner	To return	Retourné(e)(s)
Passer	To pass by	Passé(e)(s)
Rester (exception)	To stay	Resté(e)(s)

• Verbs taking être as an auxiliary verb’s past participle must agree in gender and number in relation to the subject/noun of the sentence like adjectives.
• The rest of the verbs use avoir.
• Past Perfect (Composed Tense – Plus-que-parfait)
  • This tense conveys an action that had been completed before an action has already been completed.

Formation of the Past Perfect
Subject	+	Auxiliary Verb (Avoir or Être in the imperfect tense)	+	Past Participle

• Imperfect (Imparfait)
  • This tense conveys an action that was ongoing in the past like a past habit or a regular action that used to happen.
  • To form the imperfect, the present 3^rd plural form of the conjugation of any verb is required, remove the –ons ending and add the following suffixes:

Subject	Suffix
Je	-ais
Tu	-ais
Il/Elle/On	-ait
Nous	-ions
Vous	-iez
Ils/Elles	-aient

• Note: The only exception to this rule is Être
• Future
  • Near Future
    • This tense conveys an action that is going happen very soon.

Formation of the Near Future
Subject	+	Aller	+	Infinitive

• Future Simple
  • This tense conveys an action will happen one day in the far future or an action that is sure to happen somewhere in the future.
  • To form the Future Simple, you have to take the infinitive of the verb and add the following suffixes:

Subject	Suffix
Je	-ai
Tu	-as
Il/Elle/On	-a
Nous	-ons
Vous	-ez
Ils/Elles	-ent

• Note: Infinitives that end with –RE, the E must be removed first before applying the conditional endings.

• Future and Conditional Irregular Stems 

Infinitive	Irregular Stem
Être	Ser-
Avoir	Aur-
Faire	Fer-
Aller	Ir-
Voir	Verr-
Envoyer	Enverr-
Recevoir	Recevr-
Décevoir	Décevr-
Devoir	Devr-
Venir	Viendr-
Mourir	Mourr-
Vouloir	Voudr-
Pouvoir	Pourr-
Savoir	Saur-
Pleuvoir	Pleuvr-

• Imperative
  • This mood conveys a request, warns, give orders and recommendations.
  • There are only three conjugations that for the imperative mood.
  • To form the imperative, take the infinitive of the verb, remove the endings and add the following suffixes:

Subject	Ending	Example
–ER	–IR	–RE	(Parler – To speak)
Tu	–	-is	-s	Parle ! (Speak!)
Nous	-ons	-issons	-ons	Parlons ! (Let’s speak!)
Vous	-ez	-issez	-ez	Parlez ! (Speak!)

• Note: The subject is only for reference and should not be said or used. Only the conjugated verb in the imperative mood.
• Common irregular conjugations of verbs in the imperative mood:

Subject	Infinitive
Être	Avoir	Savoir	Vouloir
Conjugation
Tu	Sois	Aie	Sache	Veuille
Nous	Soyons	Ayons	Sachons	Veuillons
Vous	Soyez	Ayez	Sachez	Veuillez

• Note: The subject is only for reference and should not be said or used. Only the conjugated verb in the imperative mood.
• To form the imperative for pronominal verbs, take the disjunctive pronouns moi, toi and vous and add it to the end of the conjugated verb in the imperative mood and join them with a hyphen.
• In the negative for the imperative for pronominal verbs, they change to reflexive pronouns and follow the pronoun order.

Pronoun Order and Imperative Nuances

• In French, pronouns go in a specific order because any other order will be considered wrong.
• Pronouns of the same type cannot be used twice in a sentence, however, pronouns of different types can be used in a sentence, but a sentence can only hold two pronouns—a third pronoun used in a sentence is not possible.
• Ne always before every pronoun.
• This pronoun order also applies to the imperative mood in the negative.

Pronoun Order
MeTeSeNousVous	before	LeLaLes	before	LuiLeur	before	y	before	en	before	Verb

• The affirmative imperative mood’s pronoun order differs from the aforementioned pronoun order
• Note: The disjunctive pronouns moi and toi when used here and followed by y and en change to me and te and contract to m’ and t’.

Pronoun Order
Verb	before	Direct Object Pronoun	before	IndirectObjectPronoun	before	y	before	en