Simple Past Present Perfect Present Future Past Future

indicatif passé antérieur

(indicatif passé simple) (passé composé) (indicatif présent) (indicatif futur simple) (indicatif futur antérieur)
I had spoke j'eus parlé I spoke je parlai I have spoken J'ai parlé I speak je parle I will speak je parlerai I will have spoken J'aurai parlé
you (fam) tu eus parlé you (fam) tu parlas you (fam) tu as parlé you (fam) tu parles you (fam) tu parleras you (fam) tu auras parlé
he/she/it il/elle eut parlé he/she/it il parla he/she/it il a parlé he/she/it il parle he/she/it il parlera he/she/it il aura parlé
we nous eûmes parlé we nous parlâmes we nous avons parlé we nous parlons we nous parlerons we nous aurons parlé
you (unfam/pl) vous eûtes parlé you (unfam/pl) vous parlâtes you (unfam/pl) vous avez parlé you (unfam/pl) vous parlez you (unfam/pl) vous parlerez you (unfam/pl) vous aurez parlé
they ils/elles eurent parlé they ils parlèrent they ils ont parlé they ils parlent they ils parleront they ils auront parlé
If the verb uses être (to be): -ir verbs: -is,-is,-it,-imes,-ites,-irent If the verb uses être (to be): -ir verbs: -s,-s,-t,-ssons,-ssez,-ssent Keep the verb ending and add: If the verb uses être (to be):
fus,fus,fut,fûmes,fûtes,furent -re verbs: -is,-is,-it,-imes,-ites,-irent suis,es,est,sommes,êtes,sont -re verbs: -s,-s,--,-ons,-ez,-ent -ir verbs: -ai,-as,-a,-ons,-ez,-ont serai,seras,sera,serons,serez,seront
plus past particle plus past particle -re verbs: -ai,-as,-a,-ons,-ez,-ont plus past particle

The French past anterior is the literary
equivalent of the past perfect. Used in
literature and historical accounts to indicate
an action in the past that occurred before
another action in the past. Because it is a
literary tense, you don't need to practice
conjugating it, but it is important for you to
be able to recognize it
The passé simple, simple past or
preterite, also called the passé défini is
the literary equivalent of the passé
composé in the French language, used
predominantly in formal writing (including
history and literature) and formal speech.
Most common passé composé verbs
w/ être: advenir, aller, arriver,
décéder, descendre, devenir, entrer,
intervenir, monter, mourir, naître,
partir, passer, parvenir, provenir, (or "group 3").
redevenir, remonter, renaître, rentrer,
ressortir, rester, retourner, revenir,
sortir, survenir, tomber, venir.
often follows: après que (after),
Note: To conjugate French compound
aussitôt que (as soon as), dès
French has around 300 irregular verbs tenses, you need an auxiliary verb, usually
que (as soon as), espérer que (to
avoir (to have) or être (to be), plus the past
hope that), lorsque (when), quand
participle of the desired verb.
(when), une fois que (once), etc.

<---------------------------------------------------------------- PAST ---------------------

INDICATIVE

PRESENT------> FUTURE----------------------------------->
Pluperfect Imperfect Past Imperative Present Imperative Present Participle Past Conditional
(indicatif plus-que-parfait) (indicatif imparfait) (impératif passé) (impératif) (participe présent) (Second Past)
I had spoken J'avais parlé I was speaking je parlais aie parlé! sois tu parle! I had spoken j'eusse parlé
parlant
you (fam) tu avais parlé you (fam) tu parlais ayons parlé! soyons nous parlons! you (fam) tu eusses parlé
he/she/it il avait parlé he/she/it il parlait ayez parlé! soyez vous parlez! Past Participle he/she/it il eût parlé
we nous avions parlé we nous parlions (participe passé) we nous eussions parlé
In French, the imperative mood expresses an order, request, or
you (unfam/pl) vous aviez parlé you (unfam/pl) vous parliez you (unfam/pl) vous eussiez parlé
directive and is created with regular verbs by using the verb directly.
they ils avaient parlé they ils parlaient parlé ayant parlé they ils eussent parlé
The imperative drops the subject, uses the present tense of a verb and
If the verb uses être (to be): -ir verbs: -ais,-ais,-ait,-ions,-iez,-aient uses the conjugations of three subject pronouns: tu (familiar), vous
Past Participle (reg verbs) formed by dropping infinitive ending of a verb
étais,étais,était,étions,étiez,étaient plus (unfamiliar), and nous (when including yourself in the group). Regular -
-re verbs: -ais,-ais,-ait,-ions,-iez,-aient and adding: [é] for –ER verbs, [i] for –IR verbs, [u] for –RE verbs
past particle er, -ir, and -re verbs follow the same pattern in commands.

Past Imperfect irregular verbs to know (past participle): acquérir

The subjunctive is needed when the
sentence contains two different clauses
(a dependent and a main clause) with
two different subjects. The clauses are
joined by que (that) or, by qui (who) -->
One of the clauses shows a Yellow indicates 1st year students must know these tenses (acquis), apprendre (appris), atteindre (atteint), avoir (eu), boire (bu),
Wish/will, Emotion, Impersonal and conjugations. Ex: comprendre (compris), conduire (conduit), connaître (connu), craindre
Present
expressions, Recommendations, & Imperfect of these 2 auxiliary verbs (craint), croire (cru), découvrir (découvert), devoir (dû), dire (dit), écrire
have: avoir (to have) ai,as,a,avons,avez,ont
Doubt/desire/denial, or one of the (écrit), être (été), faire (fait), finir (fini), instruire (instruit), joindre (joint),
clauses requires the subjunctive in
am/is/are: être (to be) suis,es,est,sommes,êtes,sont lire (lu), mettre (mis), ouvrir (ouvert), paraître (paru), parler (parlé),
some other respect. had: avoir (to have) avais,avais,avait,avions,aviez,avaient peindre (peint), pouvoir (pu), prendre (pris), produire (produit), savoir
Memory Aid: (WEIRD) was/were: être (to be) étais,étais,était,étions,étiez,étaient (su), souffrir (souffert), suivre (suivi), tenir (tenu), vendre (vendu), venir
(venu), voir (vu), vouloir (voulu).

<----------------------------------------------------------------------------- PAST -------------------

PRESENT------> CONDITIONAL
Pluperfect Subjunctive Imperfect Subjunctive Past Subjunctive Present Subjunctive Conditional Past Conditional
(subjonctif plus-que-parfait) (subjonctif imparfait) (subjonctif passé) (subjonctif présent) (conditionnel présent) (First Past)
that...I had
spoken que j'eusse parlé that I spoke que je parlasse that I had spoke que j'aie parlé that I speak que je parle I would speak je parlerais I would have spoken J'aurais parlé
SUBJUNCTIVE

that you (fam) que tu eusses parlé that you (fam) que tu parlasses that you (fam) que tu aies parlé that you (fam) que tu parles you (fam) tu parlerais you (fam) tu aurais parlé
that he/she/it qu'il eût parlé that he/she/it qu'il parlât that he/she/it qu'il ait parlé that he/she/it qu'il parle he/she/it il parlerait he/she/it il aurait parlé
que nous ayons
that we que nous eussions parlé that we que nous parlassions that we parlé that we que nous parlions we nous parlerions we nous aurions parlé
que vous ayez
that you que vous eussiez parlé that you que vous parlassiez that you parlé that you que vous parliez you (unfam/pl) vous parleriez you (unfam/pl) vous auriez parlé
that they qu'ils eussent parlé that they qu'ils parlassent that they qu'ils aient parlé that they qu'ils parlent they ils parleraient they ils auraient parlé
-ir and -er verbs: same endings If the verb uses être (to be): Keep the verb ending and add: Keep the verb ending and add: If the verb uses être (to be):
-ir / -er verbs:
-isse,-isses,-ît,-issions,-issiez,-issent sois,sois,soit,soyons,soyez,soient -ir verbs: same -ir verbs: same serais,serais,serait,serions,seriez,seraient
plus past particle -re verbs: same -re verbs: same plus past particle