French grammar · Intermediate
The French Verb Timeline: How Many Tenses There Are and Which Ones You Need
French has around twenty conjugated forms spread across four moods, but only about ten are used in speech. Laid out on a timeline they fall into a simple pattern: every point in time has a simple tense for the action itself and a compound tense for whatever happened just before it.
Hier je travaillais, aujourd'hui je travaille, demain je travaillerai.
Yesterday I was working, today I work, tomorrow I'll work.
What it is
Counting French tenses gives an intimidating number because the count includes forms that survive only in nineteenth-century novels. A more useful picture is a line running from past to future, with each region served by a pair: a simple tense for the event and a compound tense for what preceded it. Learn the pairs and the whole system collapses into something you can hold in your head.
Quand j'aurai fini, je partirai. — When I've finished, I'll leave. (compound future, then simple future)
How to spot it
Count the words. One word means a simple tense and the action itself; two words means a compound tense and an action completed before some reference point.
- je parle — I speak (simple, present)
- j'ai parlé — I spoke (compound, before now)
- je parlerai — I'll speak (simple, future)
- j'aurai parlé — I'll have spoken (compound, before a future point)
Every compound tense is its own simple tense applied to avoir or être. Aurai parlé is just the future of avoir with a participle attached.
Verb Timeline Quick Reference
The French tense system at a glance
| Mood | Tenses | Everyday use |
|---|---|---|
| Indicatif — simple | présent, imparfait, passé simple, futur simple | all but the passé simple |
| Indicatif — compound | passé composé, plus-que-parfait, passé antérieur, futur antérieur | all but the passé antérieur |
| Conditionnel | présent, passé | both, constantly |
| Subjonctif | présent, passé, imparfait, plus-que-parfait | the first two only |
| Impératif | présent, passé | the présent only |
| Infinitif | présent, passé | both |
| Participe | présent, passé, passé composé | all three |
| Total | about twenty forms | roughly half in speech |
Common Verb Timeline Examples in French
The same verb placed at different points on the line:
Looking Back
- Je regardais un film.
- I was watching a film. (imparfait, in progress)
- J'ai regardé un film.
- I watched a film. (passé composé, finished)
- J'avais regardé le film avant d'en parler.
- I had watched the film before talking about it.
- Je venais de regarder la fin.
- I had just watched the ending.
Three layers of past: what was going on, what happened, and what had already happened by then.
Standing in the Present
- Je regarde la télévision.
- I'm watching television.
- Je suis en train de la regarder.
- I'm in the middle of watching it.
- Je regarde ce programme depuis dix ans.
- I've been watching this programme for ten years.
- Je la regarde tous les soirs.
- I watch it every evening.
The présent covers habit, current action, and even a stretch of time reaching back, which is why depuis takes it.
Looking Forward
- Je vais regarder ce film.
- I'm going to watch this film.
- Je regarderai ce film demain.
- I'll watch this film tomorrow.
- J'aurai regardé les trois épisodes avant lundi.
- I'll have watched all three episodes before Monday.
- Quand je l'aurai vu, je te dirai.
- When I've seen it, I'll tell you.
The futur antérieur is the tense that lets you order two future events without saying first and then.
Stepping Off the Timeline
- Je regarderais volontiers un film.
- I'd happily watch a film. (conditionnel)
- J'aurais regardé le film si j'avais eu le temps.
- I'd have watched the film if I'd had time.
- Il faut que je regarde ce dossier.
- I need to look at this file. (subjonctif)
- Regarde ça.
- Look at this. (impératif)
These forms are not about when. They are about how real, how desired, or how commanded the action is.
How the Timeline Is Organised
Four principles turn the long list of tense names into a structure you can reason about.
Every Simple Tense Has a Compound Partner
Take the simple tense of avoir or être, add a participle, and you get the compound tense that sits just before it. Présent gives passé composé, imparfait gives plus-que-parfait, futur gives futur antérieur, conditionnel gives conditionnel passé.
Je savais qu'il avait menti.
I knew he had lied.
Simple tense of the auxiliary + participle.
Compound Tenses Mean Before, Not Past
A compound tense positions an action earlier than some reference point, and that point can be in the future. J'aurai fini is a future form even though it looks like a past.
Dès que tu auras terminé, appelle-moi.
As soon as you've finished, call me.
Compound = anterior to something.
Mood Is a Separate Axis From Time
The indicative states facts, the conditional states hypotheses, the subjunctive states things filtered through someone's will or doubt, and the imperative gives orders. Each mood has its own small set of tenses.
Je veux qu'il vienne, mais il ne viendra pas.
I want him to come, but he won't come.
Same time, different mood.
Two Tenses Are Written-Only
The passé simple and the passé antérieur have disappeared from speech and survive in novels, history writing, and formal narration. You need to recognise them, not produce them.
Il ouvrit la porte et sortit sans un mot.
He opened the door and left without a word.
Read them, don't say them.
French Has No Continuous Tense
There is no equivalent of I am reading built into the conjugation. The présent and the imparfait each cover both the simple and the continuous English forms, and en train de exists for when you need to insist.
Il lit dans le jardin.
He is reading in the garden. / He reads in the garden.
One French form, two English ones.
Common Mistakes with Verb Timeline
Incorrect: Je suis lisant un livre. — I'm reading a book.
Correct: Je lis un livre. — I'm reading a book.
There is no continuous tense in French. The présent already means both I read and I am reading, and the -ant form is not part of the conjugation.
Incorrect: Quand j'ai fini, je partirai. — When I've finished, I'll leave.
Correct: Quand j'aurai fini, je partirai. — When I've finished, I'll leave.
English uses a present perfect after when even for future events. French insists on marking the future, so the anterior action goes into the futur antérieur.
Incorrect: Hier je suis allé au marché et j'achetais du pain. — Yesterday I went to the market and bought bread.
Correct: Hier je suis allé au marché et j'ai acheté du pain. — Yesterday I went to the market and bought bread.
Two events in a sequence both belong in the passé composé. The imparfait would turn the second one into background, which makes the sentence read as unfinished.
Incorrect: Il faut que je pars maintenant. — I have to leave now.
Correct: Il faut que je parte maintenant. — I have to leave now.
Time and mood are separate axes. Il faut que forces the subjunctive regardless of when the action happens, so the present indicative pars is not available here.
One Verb Through the Whole System
Parler is a regular -er verb, so everything below is predictable. Reading down each column shows you a tense; reading across a row shows you the same person at different points on the line.
The Four Simple Indicative Tenses
Présent, imparfait and futur are the backbone of spoken French. The passé simple appears in the last column so you can recognise it in print.
| Pronoun | présent | imparfait | futur simple | passé simple |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| je / j' | parle | parlais | parlerai | parlai |
| tu | parles | parlais | parleras | parlas |
| il / elle / on | parle | parlait | parlera | parla |
| nous | parlons | parlions | parlerons | parlâmes |
| vous | parlez | parliez | parlerez | parlâtes |
| ils / elles | parlent | parlaient | parleront | parlèrent |
Je parlai and je parlerai differ by two letters and one syllable, which is one reason the passé simple faded from speech.
The Compound Partners
Each of these is avoir in a simple tense plus the participle parlé. Nothing new has to be learned once you know avoir.
| Pronoun | passé composé | plus-que-parfait | futur antérieur | conditionnel passé |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| je / 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 of movement and all pronominal verbs swap avoir for être, and their participle then agrees with the subject.
The Other Moods
The conditional has its own endings, the subjunctive follows que, and the imperative exists for only three persons.
| Pronoun | conditionnel présent | subjonctif présent (que…) | subjonctif passé (que…) | impératif |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| je / j' | parlerais | parle | aie parlé | — |
| tu | parlerais | parles | aies parlé | parle |
| il / elle / on | parlerait | parle | ait parlé | — |
| nous | parlerions | parlions | ayons parlé | parlons |
| vous | parleriez | parliez | ayez parlé | parlez |
| ils / elles | parleraient | parlent | aient parlé | — |
The conditional uses the future stem with the imparfait endings, which is why parlerais looks like a blend of parlerai and parlais.
The Tenses You Will Only Ever Read
Four forms have left the spoken language. Knowing what they look like is enough; nobody will expect you to produce them.
Le passé simple
The narrative past of literature and history. It does the job of the passé composé in written storytelling, and its third-person forms are the ones you meet most.
- Elle prit son manteau et partit.
- She took her coat and left.
- Ils arrivèrent au village à l'aube.
- They arrived in the village at dawn.
- Le roi mourut en 1715.
- The king died in 1715.
In conversation these become elle a pris, ils sont arrivés, le roi est mort.
Le passé antérieur
The compound partner of the passé simple, used after time conjunctions in literary narration. It means the same thing as a plus-que-parfait.
- Dès qu'il eut fini, il se leva.
- As soon as he had finished, he stood up.
- Quand elle fut sortie, le silence retomba.
- When she had left, silence fell again.
You will only find it in a text that is already using the passé simple.
The literary subjunctives
The imperfect and pluperfect subjunctive appear in older writing and in very formal prose. Modern French replaces both with the present and past subjunctive.
- Il fallait qu'elle partît.
- She had to leave.
- J'aurais voulu qu'il fût présent.
- I would have liked him to be present.
The circumflex on the third person singular is the giveaway: partît, fût, eût.
Verb Timeline FAQs
- How many verb tenses are there in French?
- Counting every mood, around twenty conjugated forms. In practice about ten matter for speaking: présent, imparfait, passé composé, plus-que-parfait, futur simple, futur antérieur, conditionnel présent and passé, and the present and past subjunctive.
- What is the difference between a simple and a compound tense?
- A simple tense is one word, with the person and time in the ending: je parlais. A compound tense is two words, an auxiliary plus a participle: j'avais parlé. The compound version always places the action before the moment its simple partner would describe.
- Which French tenses do I actually need to speak the language?
- Présent, passé composé, imparfait and futur proche will carry an ordinary conversation. Adding the futur simple, the conditionnel and the plus-que-parfait covers nearly everything else you will need to say.
- Is the passé simple still used?
- Only in writing. Novels, history books, and journalism in a formal register still use it, but no one narrates their weekend with il alla and elle dit. Recognise it when you read and use the passé composé when you speak.
- Why does French use the future where English uses the present?
- Because French marks the time of each verb independently instead of letting a conjunction do it. Quand j'aurai le temps is literally when I will have time, which is what the sentence actually means, even though English says when I have time.