French tenses on Phonique

Imparfait vs passé composé

Sat, 05 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000

This is the decision English speakers get wrong most often in French, and it is not because the rules are complicated. It is because English does not make the distinction. “I worked” can be a habit, a background or a single event, and English leaves it to context - French makes you choose.

The short version

The imparfait describes. The passé composé reports.

Il pleuvait - it was raining (the situation) Il a plu - it rained (an event that happened)

Passé composé vs plus-que-parfait

Sat, 05 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000

These two are much easier to separate than the imparfait and the passé composé, because there is only one variable: which action happened first. Both describe completed events. The plus-que-parfait is the one that was already over.

The only difference

J’ai parlé - I spoke. J’avais parlé - I had spoken (before something else in the past).

The participle is identical. The auxiliary is the same verb. Only its tense changes - present for the passé composé, imparfait for the plus-que-parfait:

Subjonctif vs indicatif

Sat, 05 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The subjunctive is the piece of French grammar with the worst reputation, and most of that is misplaced. The forms are straightforward. The difficulty is deciding when it is required - and the honest answer is that you learn a list, not a feeling.

The forms are the easy part

For most verbs the subjunctive barely differs from the present:

parler to talk to · Subjonctif présent

Pronoun	Form
que je	que je parle
que tu	que tu parles
qu'il/elle	qu'il/elle parle
que nous	que nous parlions
que vous	que vous parliez
qu'ils/elles	qu'ils/elles parlent

parler to talk to · Présent

Pronoun	Form
je	je parle
tu	tu parles
il/elle	il/elle parle
nous	nous parlons
vous	vous parlez
ils/elles	ils/elles parlent

Identical in four of six forms, and que nous parlions matches the imparfait. This is why the subjunctive is hard to hear - for regular verbs it mostly isn’t there.

The conditionnel passé

Sat, 05 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The conditionnel passé is would have: the thing that did not happen. It is the tense of regret, reproach and the road not taken, and it is built from parts you already have.

How it’s formed

The conditionnel présent of the auxiliary, then the past participle:

avoir or être in the conditional + past participle

avoir to have · Conditionnel passé · with avoir

Pronoun	Affirmative	Negative
j'	j'aurais eu	je n'aurais pas eu
tu	tu aurais eu	tu n'aurais pas eu
il/elle	il/elle aurait eu	il/elle n'aurait pas eu
nous	nous aurions eu	nous n'aurions pas eu
vous	vous auriez eu	vous n'auriez pas eu
ils/elles	ils/elles auraient eu	ils/elles n'auraient pas eu

être to be · Conditionnel passé · with avoir

Pronoun	Affirmative	Negative
j'	j'aurais été	je n'aurais pas été
tu	tu aurais été	tu n'aurais pas été
il/elle	il/elle aurait été	il/elle n'aurait pas été
nous	nous aurions été	nous n'aurions pas été
vous	vous auriez été	vous n'auriez pas été
ils/elles	ils/elles auraient été	ils/elles n'auraient pas été

So j’aurais + parlé → j’aurais parlé. Je serais + venu → je serais venu. As with every compound tense, the auxiliary is whichever one the verb takes, and the participle is unchanged.

The conditionnel présent

Sat, 05 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The conditionnel présent is French for would. It is also the politeness mood: the difference between demanding a coffee and asking for one. If you learn it for one reason, learn it for je voudrais.

Structurally it is the cheapest tense in French, because it is made entirely of parts you already have.

How it’s formed

The futur simple stem, with the imparfait endings. That’s the whole rule.

stem of the futur simple + -ais, -ais, -ait, -ions, -iez, -aient

The futur antérieur

Sat, 05 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The futur antérieur is the future perfect: something that will already be finished by a point still ahead of you. It is the least used of the compound tenses, but it has one job - the quand construction - where nothing else will do.

How it’s formed

The futur simple of the auxiliary, then the past participle:

avoir or être in the future + past participle

avoir to have · Futur antérieur · with avoir

Pronoun	Affirmative	Negative
j'	j'aurai eu	je n'aurai pas eu
tu	tu auras eu	tu n'auras pas eu
il/elle	il/elle aura eu	il/elle n'aura pas eu
nous	nous aurons eu	nous n'aurons pas eu
vous	vous aurez eu	vous n'aurez pas eu
ils/elles	ils/elles auront eu	ils/elles n'auront pas eu

être to be · Futur antérieur · with avoir

Pronoun	Affirmative	Negative
j'	j'aurai été	je n'aurai pas été
tu	tu auras été	tu n'auras pas été
il/elle	il/elle aura été	il/elle n'aura pas été
nous	nous aurons été	nous n'aurons pas été
vous	vous aurez été	vous n'aurez pas été
ils/elles	ils/elles auront été	ils/elles n'auront pas été

Then the participle, unchanged from every other compound tense:

The futur simple

Sat, 05 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The futur simple is the tense of will. It is also, structurally, one of the friendliest tenses in French: the endings never vary, and for regular verbs the stem is just the infinitive.

How it’s formed

Take the infinitive and add the endings. For -re verbs, drop the final -e first.

-ai, -as, -a, -ons, -ez, -ont

Those endings are the present tense of avoir - ai, as, a, avons, avez, ont - with the two plural forms clipped. That is not a coincidence, and it makes them almost free to learn.

The imparfait

Sat, 05 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The imparfait is the most regular tense in French. One set of endings, one stem rule, and exactly one irregular verb in the whole language. After the présent, it is the easiest tense to form - and the hardest to choose, because knowing when to use it rather than the passé composé is the real work.

How it’s formed

Take the nous form of the present tense, drop the -ons, and add the imparfait endings:

The passé composé

Sat, 05 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The passé composé is how French talks about the past. If you learn one past tense, learn this one: it covers everything finished, and in conversation it does nearly all the work.

It is a compound tense - two words, an auxiliary plus a past participle - and that structure is the thing to get right, because five other tenses are built the same way. Learn the machinery here and the plus-que-parfait, futur antérieur, conditionnel passé and subjonctif passé are variations on it rather than new tenses.

The plus-que-parfait

Sat, 05 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The plus-que-parfait is the past behind the past: an action already complete before another past moment. English calls it the past perfect and forms it the same way, so of all the French tenses this is the one that most reliably maps onto what you already know.

How it’s formed

The imparfait of the auxiliary, then the past participle:

avoir or être in the imparfait + past participle

That is the only new thing. The auxiliary choice and the participle are exactly as in the passé composé - if a verb takes avoir there, it takes avoir here.

The présent

Sat, 05 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The présent is the first tense anyone learns in French, and the one you will use more than all the others combined. It covers what is happening now, what happens regularly, and what is simply true - and with a time marker it stretches into the near future as well.

It is also the tense that carries the most irregularity. That is not bad luck: the verbs used most often are the ones that resist regularisation, in French as in English. So the honest way to learn it is in two halves - the endings, which are systematic, and roughly twenty high-frequency verbs, which are not.

The subjonctif passé

Sat, 05 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The subjonctif passé is the subjunctive for something already finished. Same triggers as the présent, same clauses, same que - the only question it answers is whether the action in the clause is complete.

If you can form the subjonctif présent and the passé composé, you can already form this one.

How it’s formed

The subjonctif présent of the auxiliary, then the past participle:

avoir or être in the subjunctive + past participle

The subjonctif présent

Sat, 05 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The subjonctif is the mood French uses when a clause is wanted, feared, doubted or required rather than stated as fact. It has a reputation for difficulty that is half deserved: the forms are regular and quickly learned, but knowing when it is obligatory takes longer.

The practical route in is to stop trying to feel it and learn the triggers instead. French speakers do not weigh subjectivity in the moment - they hear il faut que and the subjunctive follows automatically.