What is the difference between a simple and a compound tense?

A simple tense is one word: je parlais. A compound tense is an auxiliary plus a past participle: j'avais parlé. Every compound tense is just avoir or être conjugated in a simple tense, which is why they cost so little extra to learn.

Which French tenses do I need for a conversation?

The present, the passé composé, and the imperfect will handle most of what you want to say, with the futur proche for plans and the conditional for politeness. Il faut que plus the present subjunctive covers obligation, and that is enough for fluent everyday speech.

Is the passé simple still used?

In writing, yes: novels, biographies, and history books use it as their default narrative past. In speech it has been replaced entirely by the passé composé, so il alla and il est allé mean the same thing in different registers.

Why does French have so many past tenses?

Because it marks distinctions English handles with adverbs or context. The passé composé reports a completed event, the imperfect describes an ongoing situation, the plus-que-parfait marks something earlier still, and venir de marks something that has only just happened. Each one answers a different question about how the past event is framed.

French grammar · Intermediate

French Verb Tenses: The Full System and How the Pieces Fit Together

Written by Camille Laurent, Lead French Curriculum Editor · Reviewed May 2026

A French verb tense places an action in time. French has simple tenses, formed from a stem and an ending, and compound tenses, formed from an auxiliary plus a past participle. Every compound tense is built from a simple tense of avoir or être, so learning the simple ones gives you the compound ones for free.

Je parle, je parlais, j'ai parlé, je parlerai.

I speak, I was speaking, I spoke, I will speak.

What it is

French verb forms carry two kinds of information at once. Tense says when: before now, now, after now. Mood says how the speaker relates to the event: as a fact, as a wish, as a hypothesis, as an order. Counting them separately is what makes the system look large; in practice a small number of forms does most of the work.

Il est venu, il venait, il viendra, il viendrait. — He came, he used to come, he will come, he would come.

How to spot it

Count the words. One word means a simple tense, and the ending tells you which. Two words with avoir or être in front mean a compound tense, and the tense of that auxiliary tells you where the action sits in time.

Nous mangeons. — We're eating. (simple: present)
Nous avons mangé. — We ate. (compound: present of avoir)
Nous avions mangé. — We had eaten. (compound: imperfect of avoir)
Nous aurons mangé. — We'll have eaten. (compound: future of avoir)

Every compound tense means the action is complete relative to the time of its auxiliary. That single idea explains the whole right-hand column of any conjugation table.

Verb Tense Quick Reference

The tenses of the indicative, with their compound partners

Simple tense	Example	Compound partner	Example
Présent	je parle	Passé composé	j'ai parlé
Imparfait	je parlais	Plus-que-parfait	j'avais parlé
Futur simple	je parlerai	Futur antérieur	j'aurai parlé
Passé simple	je parlai	Passé antérieur	j'eus parlé
Conditionnel présent	je parlerais	Conditionnel passé	j'aurais parlé
Subjonctif présent	que je parle	Subjonctif passé	que j'aie parlé

Common Verb Tense Examples in French

One verb, several tenses, and what each one adds:

Talking About Now

Je travaille chez moi.: I work from home.
Je suis en train de travailler.: I'm working right now.
Je travaille ici depuis 2020.: I've been working here since 2020.

The present tense covers habits, current actions, and situations that started earlier and are still going on.

Talking About the Past

J'ai fini le rapport.: I finished the report.
Je finissais toujours en retard.: I always used to finish late.
J'avais fini avant leur arrivée.: I had finished before they arrived.
Je venais de finir.: I had just finished.

French splits the past four ways: a finished event, an ongoing background, an earlier past, and an immediate past.

Talking About the Future

Je vais appeler le médecin.: I'm going to call the doctor.
J'appellerai demain matin.: I'll call tomorrow morning.
J'aurai appelé avant midi.: I'll have called before noon.

The futur proche dominates speech, the futur simple dominates writing, and the futur antérieur handles anything that will already be done by a given point.

Talking About the Unreal

Je viendrais si je pouvais.: I'd come if I could.
J'aurais préféré rester.: I'd have preferred to stay.
Il faut que je parte.: I have to leave.

The conditional and the subjunctive are moods rather than tenses, but each of them has its own present and past forms.

How the French Tense System Is Organised

Four structural facts turn a long list of tenses into a short set of patterns.

Simple Tenses Are Stem Plus Ending

In a simple tense the whole meaning lives in one word. The stem may be the infinitive (future, conditional), the nous form of the present (imperfect, present participle), or the ils form (subjunctive), but the shape is always the same.

Nous finissions tard, mais nous finirons tôt aujourd'hui.

We used to finish late, but we'll finish early today.

One word, one stem, one ending.

Every Compound Tense Is a Simple Tense of Avoir or Être

Take the tense you want, apply it to the auxiliary, and add the participle. Present avoir gives the passé composé, imperfect avoir gives the plus-que-parfait, future avoir gives the futur antérieur, conditional avoir gives the conditionnel passé. The pattern never breaks.

J'ai vu, j'avais vu, j'aurai vu, j'aurais vu.

I saw, I had seen, I'll have seen, I'd have seen.

Change the auxiliary, change the tense.

A Compound Tense Means Completed Before

The relationship is always the same: the action of the participle is finished by the time of the auxiliary. J'avais mangé is finished before a past moment; j'aurai mangé is finished before a future one.

Quand tu arriveras, j'aurai déjà dîné.

By the time you arrive, I'll already have had dinner.

Finished before the auxiliary's moment.

Tense and Mood Are Separate Dimensions

The indicative, the conditional, the subjunctive, and the imperative are moods. Each mood has its own set of tenses, which is why you can have a present subjunctive and a past subjunctive without either of them being a separate tense of the indicative.

Je sais qu'il vient, mais je doute qu'il vienne.

I know he's coming, but I doubt he's coming.

Same time, different mood.

Some Tenses Are Written Only

The passé simple, the passé antérieur, the imperfect subjunctive, and the pluperfect subjunctive belong to literature and formal history writing. You need to recognise them to read a novel, but you will never be expected to produce them in conversation.

Il entra, s'assit et ne dit rien.

He came in, sat down, and said nothing.

Read them, don't speak them.

Common Mistakes with Verb Tense

Incorrect: Je suis ici depuis deux ans, j'ai été très heureux depuis. — I've been here two years and I've been very happy.

Correct: Je suis ici depuis deux ans et je suis très heureux. — I've been here two years and I'm very happy.

For a situation still going on, French uses the present, not a compound past. The English present perfect maps onto the French present here, not onto the passé composé.

Incorrect: Quand j'arrive, je te téléphonerai. — When I arrive, I'll call you.

Correct: Quand j'arriverai, je te téléphonerai. — When I arrive, I'll call you.

Each French clause marks its own time. If the arriving is in the future, the verb goes in the future, even though English uses the present after when.

Incorrect: Il a dit qu'il viendra. — He said he would come.

Correct: Il a dit qu'il viendrait. — He said he would come.

When the reporting verb is in the past, a future becomes a conditional. This is the tense shift English performs with will becoming would.

Incorrect: J'ai connu Marie depuis dix ans. — I've known Marie for ten years.

Correct: Je connais Marie depuis dix ans. — I've known Marie for ten years.

J'ai connu means I met, a single event. For a state that began in the past and is still true, French uses the present with depuis.

Parler Across the Tense System

One regular verb through the tenses you will meet, so you can see how each set of endings relates to the others.

The Simple Indicative Tenses

Notice that the future and the conditional both keep the whole infinitive in front of the ending, which is why they look so similar.

Pronoun	présent	imparfait	futur simple	conditionnel
je	parle	parlais	parlerai	parlerais
tu	parles	parlais	parleras	parlerais
il / elle / on	parle	parlait	parlera	parlerait
nous	parlons	parlions	parlerons	parlerions
vous	parlez	parliez	parlerez	parleriez
ils / elles	parlent	parlaient	parleront	parleraient

The conditional is literally the future stem with the imperfect endings, which is why je parlerais sits between the two.

The Compound Indicative Tenses

The same participle throughout; only the tense of avoir changes.

Pronoun	passé composé	plus-que-parfait	futur antérieur	conditionnel passé
j'	ai parlé	avais parlé	aurai parlé	aurais parlé
tu	as parlé	avais parlé	auras parlé	aurais parlé
il / elle / on	a parlé	avait parlé	aura parlé	aurait parlé
nous	avons parlé	avions parlé	aurons parlé	aurions parlé
vous	avez parlé	aviez parlé	aurez parlé	auriez parlé
ils / elles	ont parlé	avaient parlé	auront parlé	auraient parlé

Verbs that take être in the passé composé take it in all four of these, and the participle then agrees with the subject.

The Subjunctive and the Literary Past

The present subjunctive is everyday French; the passé simple is reading knowledge.

Pronoun	subjonctif présent	subjonctif passé	passé simple	passé antérieur
que je / j'	parle	aie parlé	parlai	eus parlé
que tu	parles	aies parlé	parlas	eus parlé
qu'il / elle / on	parle	ait parlé	parla	eut parlé
que nous	parlions	ayons parlé	parlâmes	eûmes parlé
que vous	parliez	ayez parlé	parlâtes	eûtes parlé
qu'ils / elles	parlent	aient parlé	parlèrent	eurent parlé

The subjunctive is listed with que because it almost never appears without a trigger clause in front of it.

The Tenses You Actually Need

French grammar books list well over a dozen tenses. Spoken French runs on about six of them, and knowing which ones lets you spend your effort where it counts.

The core six

Present, passé composé, imperfect, futur proche, futur simple, and conditional present will carry you through almost any conversation.

Je pars maintenant.: I'm leaving now.
Je suis parti hier.: I left yesterday.
Je partais toujours à sept heures.: I always used to leave at seven.
Je vais partir dans une heure.: I'm going to leave in an hour.

Add the present subjunctive after il faut que and a few set expressions and you have a complete working system.

The recognition-only tenses

Four tenses survive almost exclusively in writing. You need to identify them on the page and understand what they mean, nothing more.

Elle naquit à Rouen en 1802.: She was born in Rouen in 1802. (passé simple)
Dès qu'il eut fini, il sortit.: As soon as he had finished, he went out. (passé antérieur)
Il fallait qu'il partît.: He had to leave. (imperfect subjunctive)

In speech these become est née, avait fini, and qu'il parte respectively.

Tense agreement across clauses

French is stricter than English about matching tenses between a main clause and a subordinate one, particularly after quand and in reported speech.

Quand j'aurai fini, je t'appellerai.: When I've finished, I'll call you.
Il a dit qu'il viendrait.: He said he would come.
Je pensais que tu étais parti.: I thought you'd left.

English lets when and that take a present tense; French makes each clause carry its own time explicitly.

Verb Tense FAQs

How many verb tenses does French have?: Counting every mood, French has around eighteen tense forms, but only about six are current in speech: present, passé composé, imperfect, futur proche, futur simple, and conditional. The rest are either compound variants built from those or literary forms you only need to recognise.
What is the difference between a simple and a compound tense?: A simple tense is one word: je parlais. A compound tense is an auxiliary plus a past participle: j'avais parlé. Every compound tense is just avoir or être conjugated in a simple tense, which is why they cost so little extra to learn.
Which French tenses do I need for a conversation?: The present, the passé composé, and the imperfect will handle most of what you want to say, with the futur proche for plans and the conditional for politeness. Il faut que plus the present subjunctive covers obligation, and that is enough for fluent everyday speech.
Is the passé simple still used?: In writing, yes: novels, biographies, and history books use it as their default narrative past. In speech it has been replaced entirely by the passé composé, so il alla and il est allé mean the same thing in different registers.
Why does French have so many past tenses?: Because it marks distinctions English handles with adverbs or context. The passé composé reports a completed event, the imperfect describes an ongoing situation, the plus-que-parfait marks something earlier still, and venir de marks something that has only just happened. Each one answers a different question about how the past event is framed.