French Verbs - Tenses, Moods, and Voices

Lessons and quizzes on all the tenses, moods, and voices of French verbs

Verb Timeline
A chart of all French verb tenses and moods to help you fit them all together.

Compound Tenses - Temps composés
French verb conjugations can be divided into two categories: simple tenses and compound tenses. Simple tenses have only one part (je vais) whereas compound tenses have two (je suis allé). Compound tenses are obviously more complicated, so this lesson will explain what you need to know about them and includes links to detailed lessons on each tense.

Concordance des temps
When speaking French, it is important to use the correct sequence of tenses. In complex sentences, there is a relationship between the verb in the main clause and the verb in the subordinate clause. Using the correct sequence of tenses is just as important as conjugating the verbs correctly and using the appropriate mood.

Conditional - Conditionnel
If you would like to learn about possible events, click here.

Conditional Perfect - Conditionnel passé
The French conditional perfect (also called the past conditional) is used just like the English conditional perfect. It is used to express actions that would have occurred in the past if circumstances had been different.

Conditional Perfect, 2nd Form - Seconde forme du conditionnel passé
The second form of the French conditional perfect is a rather strange verb tense/mood. It is the literary equivalent of the conditional perfect and is identical in conjugation to another verb form. As with all literary tenses, you should learn to recognize the conditional perfect, 2nd form, but chances are that you will never need to conjugate it.

Encyclopédie de Verbes
More than 70 verbs conjugated into all of the simple tenses as well as hundreds of similarly-conjugated verbs. 

Future - Futur
The future is one of the simplest French tenses. There is only one set of endings, and most verbs - even those which are irregular in the present tense - use their infinitive as the root for the future tense. After studying this lesson, you will be able to talk about future events.

Future Perfect - Futur antérieur
The French future perfect is normally used to describe an action that will have happened by a specific point in the future, but can also be used to make simple assumptions about things in the past.

Imperfect - Imparfait
The French imperfect is a descriptive past tense which indicates an ongoing state of being or a repeated or incomplete action, with no indication of the beginning and end of the state of being or action.

Impersonal Verbs
Impersonal verbs have only one conjugation: the third person singular indefinite, or il. Some of these verbs also have personal versions with different meanings, so it's important to learn to recognize impersonal verbs.

Imperative - Impératif
The imperative is a French mood which is used to  give an order, express a desire, offer advice, recommend something, and make a polite request. Learn the conjugations and uses of the French imperative. Give orders! Learn how! Click here!

Past Imperative - Impératif passé
A rare French verb mode, used to give a command for something that must be done before a certain time.

Infinitive - Infinitif
Learn to use the French infinitive - it's not just for conjugating anymore!

Past Infinitive - Infinitif passé
Learn how to use the French past infinitive.

Literary Tenses - Temps littéraires
You've heard of them, maybe even learned to recognize some of them, but just what are literary tenses? This lesson explores where they are used, why to avoid them, and what is lost when you do.

Modal Verbs in French
Modal verbs, also called modal auxiliaries or simply modals, are unconjugated English verbs which express the mood of a verb, such as ability, possibility, condition, and necessity. However, French does not have modal verbs, which can make it difficult to translate them. There are ten common English modal verbs: can, must, should....

Mood - Mode
Mood refers to the verb forms that express the attitude of the speaker toward the action/state of the verb - how likely or factual the statement is. The French language has six moods - learn 'em all! :-)

Passé simple
The passé simple is the literary equivalent of the passé composé, used only in formal writing and speech. Although you will probably never need to actually use the passé simple, it is important and easy to recognize it. Take a look at this lesson for passé simple conjugations of regular and irregular verbs.

Passive Voice - Voix passive
The passive voice is used to focus on the person or thing performing the action, or to focus on an action without identifying the performer. Learn how to conjugate, use, and avoid the passive voice with this lesson.

Passive Impersonal - Impersonnel passif
The passive impersonal is commonly used in place of the passive voice. In this construction, a non-reflexive verb is used reflexively in order to demonstrate the passive nature of the action, as in Ça se voit - That's obvious.

Passive Infinitive
Even though the French infinitive translates as "to + verb," the French sometimes needs to be preceded by a preposition. This is the case with the passive infinitive, which is commonly used with indefinite and negative words.

Past Anterior - Passé antérieur
You need to be able to recognize the French past anterior.

Past Participle ~ Le participe passé
The participe passé is the French equivalent of the -ed form of English verbs. It is used in compound tenses, in the passive voice, and as an adjective.

Past Tenses - Le Passé
One of the most striking differences between French and English is in verb tenses. Learning how to use the various past tenses can be very tricky, because English has several tenses which either do not exist in or do not translate literally into French - and vice versa. For detailed information, take a look at this lesson and quiz on distinguishing between the French imparfait and passé composé.

Advanced Past Tenses
The difference between the two main French past tenses, the passé composé and the imparfait, is a constant struggle for many French students. In the basic lesson on le passé, you learned about the fundamental differences between these two tenses. In this more advanced lesson, you will learn about the particularities of certain verbs, including those that are usually in the imperfect and those that have different meanings depending on which tense is used.

Pluperfect - Plus-que-parfait
The pluperfect (aka past perfect) is used to indicate an action in the past that occurred before another action in the past. The latter can either be mentioned in the same sentence or implied. Learn how to conjugate and use this compound tense.

Present - Présent
Learn to use the French present tense.

Present Participle - Participe présent
The English present participle is very simple: it is the -ing form of a verb. The formation of the French present participle is also simple, and it can be used as an adjective, noun, verb, or gerund. Learn all about the French present participle and then test your skills.

Perfect Participle - Passé composé du participe présent
The French perfect participle is used to describe a condition existing in the past or an action that took place right before another action. It means the same thing as après + l'infinitif passé, with one difference: the perfect participle can have a different subject than the main clause. Having studied this lesson, you'll have no trouble with the French perfect participle.

Present Perfect - Passé composé
The passé composé is the most common French past tense, often used in conjunction with the imparfait and used to express actions completed in the past.

Pronominal Voice - Voix pronominal
The pronominal voice refers to a verb conjugation wherein the subject performs the action of the verb upon itself. Pronominal verbs (including reflexive verbs) must be conjugated with a reflexive pronoun in addition to the subject pronoun or subject. Learn about the conjugation, types, and usage of French pronominal verbs.

Si Clauses
Lesson and quiz on if ... then... clauses.

Simple Past - Passé simple
The passé simple is the literary equivalent of the passé composé, used only in formal writing and speech. Although you will probably never need to actually use the passé simple, it is important and easy to recognize it. Take a look at this lesson for passé simple conjugations of regular and irregular verbs.

Subjunctive - Le subjonctif
Students of French tend to agree that the subjunctive is the most difficult verb form. The subjunctive mood is used to express actions which are subjective: will/wanting, emotion, doubt, possibility, necessity, judgment, etc., and is is nearly always found in dependent clauses introduced by que. Take a look at this page for lessons on every aspect of the tricky French subjunctive.

Voice - Voix
Voice is one of the five inflections involved in conjugating French verbs. It indicates the relationship between the subject and verb.

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