French tenses

French has more tenses than English, but fewer than the textbooks make it feel. Ten will take you from your first sentence to comfortable conversation, and they arrive in a sensible order: two at A1, two more at A2, and the rest as you start needing to be precise about time and doubt.

Each page below explains what the tense is for, how to build it, and the mistakes English speakers make most - with full conjugation tables, including the negative forms.

A1-A2 - the first four

• A1 The présent Actions happening now; habits and routines; general truths; near‑future with context.
• A1 The passé composé Single or sequential completed actions in the past; results that matter now.
• A2 The imparfait Background and descriptions; habits; ongoing past actions often interrupted by a completed action.
• A2 The futur simple Neutral future plans and predictions; formal instructions about the future.

B1-B2 - the other six

• B1 The conditionnel présent Polite requests; wishes and advice; hypotheses with 'si' + imparfait.
• B1 The plus-que-parfait Earlier past (past of the past); often paired with passé composé or imparfait.
• B1 The conditionnel passé Past hypotheticals and regrets; with 'si' + plus‑que‑parfait.
• B2 The futur antérieur Completed action before a future deadline or reference point.
• B2 The subjonctif présent Triggers include vouloir que, il faut que, douter que, être content que, avant que, bien que, pour que.
• B2 The subjonctif passé Same triggers as subjonctif présent, but the action in the subordinate clause is prior.

Telling the confusing pairs apart

• Imparfait vs passé composé The hardest choice in French past tense: what each one does, the tests that decide it, and the verbs that change meaning depending on which you pick.
• Passé composé vs plus-que-parfait Two compound past tenses, one difference: which happened first. How to order events in French past narration, and the si clause that goes with each.
• Subjonctif vs indicatif When French requires the subjunctive and when it doesn't: the trigger list, the verbs that flip when negated, and the traps like espérer and après que.