French verbs
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HideWhat is a verb?
Verbs (French: les verbes) are 'doing' words which aim to describe what someone or something does, what someone or something is, or what happens to them, for example, be, sing, live.
Verbs can be divided into:
- finite verb forms (French: formes conjuguées)
- non-finite verb forms (French: formes non conjuguées)
- full verbs and auxiliary verbs
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Finite verb forms
Finite verb forms in general have a subject, which means that they can be the main verb in a sentence. Moreover, these verb forms can indicate a tense, person and number.
Basically we can differ between:
- simple tenses which consists of one word and is formed from the stem and the ending.
- compound tenses which are being formed by the auxiliary verbs avoir or être and the participe perfect.
Non-finite verb forms
Non-finite verb forms do not have a subject, tense or number. Basically, non-finite verb forms are the infinitive (faire), the gerund (en faisant) or the participle (faisant/fait).
Verbal tenses in French
Verbs are actions words or nouns that indicate what the action is and when it is happening in the present, future or past. But they can also express possibilities, obligations like the modal verbs
The French grammar has 4 verbal moods and each mood has a present tense, a past tense and a future tense
On this page you will find an overview of the different verb tenses in different sections with their respective exercises.
Moods | Present | Past | Future |
|---|---|---|---|
Présent simple
| Imparfait Passé simple Passé composé Plus-que-parfait Passé intérieur
| Future simple Futur intérieur | |
Présent du conditionnel
| Passé du conditionnel |
| |
Imperatif présent | Impératif passé |
| |
Subjonctif présent | Subjonctif passé Subjonctif plus-que-parfait Subjonctif imparfait |
|
Use of verbal tenses in French
1. Present
- Present of the indicative: simple tense that is used to express a fact or an action that takes place when we express ourselves
- Present of the conditional: simple tense that can be used to mitigate a request
- Present of the imperative: simple tense that is used to express an order or an prohibition
- Present of the subjunctive: simple tense that is used to express an uncertain, unrealized action as we express ourselves
2. Past
- Imperfect of the indicative: simple tense that is used to express a fact or action that has already taken place at the moment we speak but can still unfold
- Literary past tense: simple tense that is used to express a completed action from the past, most often a brief action
- Past completed: compound tense that is used to express an action or fact that has already taken place at the moment we speak.
- Pluperfect of the indicative: compound tense that allows to express the anteriority of an action compared to a past action
- Past anterior: this compound tense is used most often with the literary past tense to express the anteriority of an action.
- Past of the conditional: compound tense that is used to express a regret or reproach smth to smne
- Past of the imperative: compound tense that is very little used but it allows to express the anteriority of an ordered action compared to an action which is not yet realized
- Past of the subjunctive: compound tense that is used to express an uncertain action, supposedly realized at the moment when we express ourselves.
- Imperfect of the subjunctive: simple tense that is used to express an uncertain action, unrealized at the moment when the speaker spoke. It is generally used in litterary
- Pluperfect of the subjunctive: compound tense that is used to express an uncertain action, supposedly performed at the moment when the speaker spoke. It is generally used in litterary
3. Future
- Future simple: simple tense that is used to express a fact or an action that will take place later, it has not yet taken place at the moment we express ourselves
- Future perfect: compound tense that is used to express a fact or an action that will be completed at that moment.
In addition, you can access from this page to: reflexive verbs, auxiliaries, the modals, passive or active voice, reported speech.
Examples
| Past | Present | Futur |
|---|---|---|---|
Simple | Elle vivait à London (she was living in London) | Elle travaille dans une usine (She works in a factory) | Elle viendra plus tard. (She will come later) |
Compound | Elle avait vécu à Londres. (She had lived in London.) | Elle m’a attendu au restaurant. (She has waited for me in the restaurant) | Elle sera venue plus tard. (She will have come later) |
Irregulars and regular verbs in French
Like in English, there are two types of verbs, irregular and regular. They differ by their way of conjugating.
Moreover generally, regular are French verbs ending in -er, -ir and belong to the 1st and 2nd group and irregular verbs are ending in -oir, -re, -ir and belong to the 3rd group.
Irregular verbs have a specific form for the present, past and participle
- voir – vu – vit
- partir – partit – partat
- mettre – mis – mette
Regular verbs have only one form and to make the past or participle
- finir – finis – finis
- travailler – travaillé – travaille
- acheter – acheté – achète
Auxiliaries in French
To begin, you should take a look at the auxiliary verbs that you will use multiple times to form the different verb compound tenses
here you will get an overview of the present, past a future of the auxiliaries avoir and être
Present | Past | Future | |
|---|---|---|---|
J’ai (present simple) J’aurais (conditional present) Aies (present imperative) Que j’aie (subjunctive present) | J’avais (imperfect) Je fus (literary past tense) Que j’eusse (subjunctive imperfect | J’aurai (future simple) | |
Je suis (present simple) Je serais (conditional present) Sois (present imperative) Que je sois (subjunctive present) | J’étais (imperfect) Que je fusse (subjunctive imperfect) | Je serai (future simple) |
Conjugation of compound tenses
To form the compound tenses, you use the conjugation of the auxiliaries that you we saw below in the table.
- Past completed: present simple of avoir or être + past participle
- Pluperfect of the indicative: imperfect of avoir or être + past participle
- Past anterior: literary past tense of avoir or être + past participle
- Past imperative: present imperative of avoir or être + past participle
- Past subjunctive: present subjunctive of avoir or être + past participle
- Conditional past: conditional present of avoir or être + past participle
- Pluperfect of the subjunctive: subjunctive imperfect of avoir or être + past participle
- Future perfect: future simple of avoir or être + past participle
Modal verbs in French
Modal verbs (French: les verbes modaux) are also auxiliary verbs, but unlike the previous ones, they are complementary verbs that accompany other verbs. They express ability, possibility, obligation or other condition.
- Devoir
- Vouloir
- Savoir
- Aimer
- Falloir
- Pouvoir
Infinitive verbs and gerund in French
In French, we can also differentiate between infinitives and gerunds. They also in present and in past for the verbs:
- The present is simple
- The past is compound with the verb avoir or être
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My name is Tiska. I am a French Teacher with experiences with adults and teenagers in Public Education (USA) and Language Schools. I am holding a Master Degree in FLE (Teaching French as a Foreign Language).
Join a small group of learners of 2 or 3 for conversation lessons with me. An article or video to watch before the lesson and a conversation with personalized corrections during the lesson. This option saves you at least 10 euros per lesson on Colanguage.
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Level: intermediate (B1)
Also, standard French lessons
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I give Skype lessons to people who need or want to improve their French language. I like to use material from the internet (videos, article etc.) to introduce a theme which leads to a lesson and a conversation.
I like to create engaging learning with my students. I will give as homework a document to watch or to read with comprehension exercises so the time we have on skype is only speaking practice and explanation if needed.
I can help you prepare DELF-DALF Exams or work on specific needs (as professional French).
Really like to speak about all the subjects with the student especially those the student like so it gives the motivation to speak in the foreign language.
The free first lesson is organize to know your tastes, your level and your needs so we can plan the next lessons about the objectives you fixed.
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My classes are structured according to my students' needs, I use different teaching methods and I rely on listening each of my students' expectations and goals. Dynamism and constant learning are my purposes in my classes.
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I have academic studies in English and French from Montréal, Canada, where I lived for several years. I have a Bachelor in Teaching French as a foreign language from the Université de Bourgogne.
I learned French at an early age in immersion in a French-speaking region and I studied French formally for 11 years, obtaining a native level.
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Bonjour! Veux-tu apprendre français? ou l'améliorer?
My classes are structured according to my students' needs, I use different teaching methods and I rely on listening each of my students' expectations and goals. Dynamism and constant learning are my purposes in my classes.
I have worked as a French teacher for more than ten years.
I have academic studies in English and French from Montréal, Canada, where I lived for several years. I have a Bachelor in Teaching French as a foreign language from the Université de Bourgogne.
I learned French at an early age in immersion in a French-speaking region and I studied French formally for 11 years, obtaining a native level.
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I. M.
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Hello,
My name is Tiska. I am a French Teacher with experiences with adults and teenagers in Public Education (USA) and Language Schools. I am holding a Master Degree in FLE (Teaching French as a Foreign Language).
Join a small group of learners of 2 or 3 for conversation lessons with me. An article or video to watch before the lesson and a conversation with personalized corrections during the lesson. This option saves you at least 10 euros per lesson on Colanguage.
Group opening:
Monday and/or Wednesday from 17:30 to 18:30 (French time).
Level: intermediate (B1)
Also, standard French lessons
- level A2 (low intermediate)
- 2 hours a week
- ask for schedule
Don’t know your level? Ask for a free level test.
I give Skype lessons to people who need or want to improve their French language. I like to use material from the internet (videos, article etc.) to introduce a theme which leads to a lesson and a conversation.
I like to create engaging learning with my students. I will give as homework a document to watch or to read with comprehension exercises so the time we have on skype is only speaking practice and explanation if needed.
I can help you prepare DELF-DALF Exams or work on specific needs (as professional French).
Really like to speak about all the subjects with the student especially those the student like so it gives the motivation to speak in the foreign language.
The free first lesson is organize to know your tastes, your level and your needs so we can plan the next lessons about the objectives you fixed.
F. D.
Tiska is a very good teacher: her lessons are well structured and she follows your French level perfectly. The method she uses is modern and leaves room for conversation. Homework is a real party with the videos, listening to music videos and grammar which is well explained in the book. I can highly recommend Tiska for your French lesson.
Tiska G.
Bonjour! Veux-tu apprendre français? ou l'améliorer?
My classes are structured according to my students' needs, I use different teaching methods and I rely on listening each of my students' expectations and goals. Dynamism and constant learning are my purposes in my classes.
I have worked as a French teacher for more than ten years.
I have academic studies in English and French from Montréal, Canada, where I lived for several years. I have a Bachelor in Teaching French as a foreign language from the Université de Bourgogne.
I learned French at an early age in immersion in a French-speaking region and I studied French formally for 11 years, obtaining a native level.
À bientôt!
E. B.
I’ve worked on my French with Natalia for several weeks now, and I’m enjoying it a lot. I speak a lot during the lessons, which is exactly what I need at the moment. There is always a good balance of working on grammar and practising conversation. I’m looking forward to continue my lessons over the next few months :)
Eline already speaks and writes very good and we are working towards achieving an advanced level of French. We always have many topics of conversations and I see how she always improves fer French.
Degree in Teaching and in Geography and History, with certificate of French C1 by the Institut Français and by the Official School of Languages, I teach French and Spanish online since 2020.
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Blanca is an excellent teacher and very friendly. She adapts the lessons to my wishes. We laugh a lot and I hope that we will continue the lessons for a long time.
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My name is Ilaria, I am 30 years old, I have a post-graduate Master in Linguistic Education at the Ca'Foscari University of Venice. I currently teach Italian to foreigners online.
I gained numerous experiences abroad, I volunteered for one year in Romania, then I worked for two years in Bucharest and two in Ireland in the field of customer service for international companies.
I am a native speaker of Italian but I speak fluent English, Romanian and French.
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I also love fitness, sitcoms, social media (memes are my passion) and, when the crown allows it, travel.
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I have a CEDILS certification.
In the first lesson I try to get an impression of the students, their attitude, cognitive style, needs, level of exposure to the language, motivation etc. I try an inductive - conversational approach first, I plan every lesson and I provide the student with a Google Drive file, anticipating contents and activities.Mostly I tend to work on what it's best for the students (ex. some of them prefer learning tables with grammar rules, verbs etc by heart, I make them understand that this is not considered the fastest nor most efficient way generally, but if it works for them I encourage it). I always try to make them capable of learn by their own and I want them to see me as a facilitator, a guide, not "the person who owns the knowledge". I keep my students focused by constantly stimulating them, asking questions, asking them to share thoughts and formulate hypotheses. Also I always provide explanations for what I do, why I do it in a certain way and at a certain time. I also use a manual.
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Ilaria V.
Thanks Giacomo!
Hello,
I am a multilingual teacher with experience in teaching French to German, Japanese, English, Bulgarian and Italian-speaking students, etc. (levels A1 to C1).
I have been teaching French for 8 years in Luxemburg and now in Bulgaria for 4 years, to teenagers, housewives, businessmen, employees, doctors, etc. I can also help you with DELF and DALF preparation. I give lessons via Skype, Zoom and Microsoft Teams in several countries.
My teaching method for each class : a grammar point together with listening, a lot of speaking with conversation questions or games. While you speak, I write all the new words you need to express yourself, illustrated by pictures or translated in your language.
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J. V.
I was so pleased with my lesson with Katia. She speaks a clear French that is easy to follow and handles the technology brilliantly. She is a good listener and instantly types up vocabulary words, generating a list so I could reinforce and see what I had learned. I was really impressed. I highly recommend her for learning French.
Katia H.
Hi, I am Christin!
After training as a pastry chef and studying business administration, I traveled a lot and discovered my interest in languages. To find out more about teaching languages, I decided on further training at the Goethe Institute and completed it. During the Goethe Institute "Learn to teach German" course I was able to give individual language lessons and actively support the examination preparation for the Goethe certificate.
My lessons are needs-oriented. That means that learning goals are discussed with you and based on your level of knowledge. Whether grammar, sentence structure, pronunciation, expression or the practice of communication situations: German as a foreign and second language classes are flexible and take place in a group or one-to-one lessons with individual support and are based on your wishes and requirements. The teaching of content and topics takes place according to the respective language level. Building vocabulary, grammar and means of speaking are structured and conveyed logically building on each other. Let's get to know each other in a free trial class. I am looking forward to meeting you!
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Christin is a committed and professional German teacher with experience in teaching German face-to-face. Her teaching methods include setting learning goals with her students and giving continuous feedback. Her activities are guided by a communicative approach and she tries to teach her students german vocabulary for everyday life.
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Christin E.