There are 21 verb forms in French, but some are much more useful than others. *Some people consider the conditional a tense rather than a mood you can decide what you feel it is in your heart. Participle – the equivalent of the verb + -ing (present participle) or -ed (past participle) Infinitive – the most neutral version of a verb, “to (verb)” (like “to eat” or “to run”) Subjunctive – for emotions and things that are possible but not certainĬonditional* – for phrases with “would” (like “I would like a dog” or “we would have left”) ![]() Here’s a quick breakdown of how each French verb mood is used: Impersonal, which is broken down into infinitive ( infinitif) and participles ( participes). This is how we classify what the different verb tenses are used for. In French, as in many other languages, we have tenses, but we also have something called verb moods (sometimes referred to as “modes”). We use different tenses, just like in English, to more precisely describe events, feelings, and possibilities in the past, present, and future. Others are compound tenses, where a second verb is added (and conjugated) to create the new tense. Some tenses are simple, meaning the conjugated verb is the only verb required and the ending is the only thing that changes. (As you may well know by now, in French, verb endings change not just with the tense but also based on the subject performing the action of the verb, as in nous mangeons – from manger, or vous restez – from rester.) Those infinitive endings are then replaced with the appropriate new ending based on the tense and the subject. In French, to conjugate a verb into another tense, you need the stem of the word, formed by taking the infinitive of the verb and removing its ending ( -er, -ir, or -re). Think “I sit” versus “I am sitting” in the present tense, or “I jumped” versus “I was jumping” or “I had jumped” in the past. Of course, there’s often more than one way to speak about something within the same time period, which is why we have more than just 3 tenses in each language. For example, “I ate,” “I eat,” and “I will eat” all use the same verb, but in different tenses. What is a verb tense?Ī verb tense is what we use to express where a verb sits in time, typically sorted into past, present, and future tenses. In this guide, we’ll be looking at all of the French verb tenses, what they mean, and when to use them (if at all).įor the purposes of this guide, we’ll be focusing less on French verb conjugation and more on what all the tenses are and how they fit together.īut before we dive in, let’s start with the basics, to make sure we’re all on the same page. But, with a little bit of study, you can master them. ![]() Let’s face it – French verb tenses can be a little confusing.
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