Je m’appelle ______________________________________
Français 3 – Les temps
L’infinitif
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This is the original form of the verb that is NOT conjugated
It does NOT have a subject
It ends in ER, IR, or RE
Verbs following prepositions (pour, à, après, de…) are always in the
infinitive form
Le temps présent
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Refer to verb charts (ie, drop ER, IR, RE and add appropriate
ending)
Ex : Je parle = I speak, I do speak, I am speaking, I have been
speaking
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L’impératif
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Commands/orders
Conjugate in Nous (let’s …), Tu (informal) or Vous (formal or plural)
based who you are addressing, but do NOT write the subject
Drop the S in the TU form of ER verbs
Le passé composé
avec Avoir
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A completed action in the past / a specific moment in time
Compound tense : requires Avoir + past participle
Then create the past participle : RE  U, IR  I, ER  É
The past participle agrees with the direct object pronoun
Le passé composé
avec Être
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A completed action in the past / a specific moment in time
Compound tense : requires être + past participle
Only applies to Dr/Mrs Vandertrampp and reflexive verbs
The past participle agrees with the subject ; add « e » for feminine,
add « s » for plural
L’imparfait
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Describes ongoing/repeated actions in the past, or general
descriptions of the past
Ex, Il jouait = He used to play, he was playing, he played (often), he
would play (in the past)
Only irregular is être, whose stem is étFor all other verbs, Conjugate in Nous, Drop the ONS, and add the
imperfect endings (-ais, -ais, -ait, -ions, -iez, -aient)
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Le conditionnel
présent
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le subjonctif
présent
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Describes what « would » happen, speculation, not guaranteed
To create the conditional, add the conditional endings to the
infinitive form of the verb (ais, ais, ait, ions, iez, aient)
For RE verbs, drop the E before adding the coinditional endings
Note that these endings are the same as the Imperfect endings
Mood to express ideas which are subjective (biased) or uncertain :
will/wanting, emotion, doubt, possibility, need…
It almost always follows a dependent clause using « que » or « qui »
le futur simple
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To create, conjugate in Ils, drop the ENT, and add subjunctive
endings (e, es, e, ions, iez, ent)
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Actions happening in the future, what « will » happen
To create the future, add the future (avoir) endings to the infinitive
form of the verb (ai, as, a, ons, ez, ont)
For RE verbs, drop the E before adding the future endings
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le plus que parfait
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le passé simple
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Describes actions in the past that had completed before another
past action took place
Compound tense using être/avoir in the imperfect, plus the past
participle
Ex : nous avions parlé = we had spoken
Literary equivalent of the passé composé, but typically used in
formal writing (ie, history or literature)
Formed by dropping the ER and adding the appropriate ending (ai,
as, a, âmes, âtes, èrent) or dropping the IR/RE and adding the
appropriate endings (is, is, it, îmes, îtes, irent)
Some irregulars include être (je fus), faire (je fis), venir (je vins)
Other irregular verbs whose past participles end in « u » use that
past participle as their stem (ex, boire  il but, avoir  nous
eûmes)
Irregular conditional/future stems
verb
stem
meaning
être
serto be
vouloir
voudrto want
venir
viendrto come
savoir
saurto know
devoir
devrto have to
courir
courrto run
verb
aller
pouvoir
voir
faire
envoyer
avoir
Irregular subjunctive verbs
faire
fasssavoir
sachpouvoir
puissaller
aill- (inside the boot)
all- (outside the boot)
vouloir
veuill- (inside the boot)
voul – (outside the boot)
avoir*
aie
ayons
aies
ayez
ait
aient
être*
sois
soyons
sois
soyez
soit
soient
stem
irpourrverrferenverraurto do / make
to know
to be able
to go
to want
to have
to be
meaning
to go
to be able
to see
to do/make
to send
to have