Grammar Study - Verbs and Tenses

Question 1

Happening now!
No need for avoir or être
e.g. je mange du pain
Can also use with time phrases
e.g. en général, je cuisine mon diner le soir (generally, I cook my dinner in the evening)

Answer 1

Present (présent)

Question 2

Happened in the past and is completely finished
Use present tense of avoir or être, followed by the past participle of the main verb
e.g. j’ai mangé du pain (I ate some bread)

Answer 2

Perfect (passé composé)

Question 3

For describing things that happened in the past
Including things that happened regularly
To use this tense, take the present nous form of the verb, remove the nous ending, then replace with the appropriate ending for this tense, and the correct subject pronoun. There are some exceptions where you don’t use the nous form (most notably être)
e.g. quand j’etais petit, je jouais tous les jours (when I was small, I played every day)

Answer 3

Imperfect (imparfait)

Question 4

Happened far back in the past (events that HAD happened)
Use the imperfect form of avoir or être, and add the past participle of the main verb
e.g. j’avais mangé avant de partir (I had eaten before leaving)

Answer 4

Pluperfect

Question 5

What will happen
Simply add the future ending to the infinitive
Regular er and ir verbs use the same endings!
These endings are the present versions of avoir (e.g. ai, as, a, with exception of avons and avez which are simply ons and ez)
Irregular verbs use the same endings as well, but the stems are different (rather than using the full infinitive)

Answer 5

Future (futur)

Question 6

What would happen in the future
Similar to future, but add the imperfect ending (instead of the future ending) to the stem
Can be used to say what would happen if something else occurred
e.g. si j’étais riche, j’achèterais une grosse voiture

Answer 6

Conditional (conditionnel)

Question 7

Like -ing in English
To mean while ...ing or by ...ing
Takes the form en + present participle
To get the present participle, for regular (er, ir, re) verbs you take nous form, remove ending, and add ant
e.g. en étudiant, j'ai gagnerai

Answer 7

Present participle

Question 8

For a command, suggestion, request or instruction
e.g. ‘mangez!’ (eat!) ‘allons!’ (let’s go!)
Note that if the verb is reflexive, you hyphenate the verb with e.g. toi
e.g. levez-toi! (stand up!)
Use the nous form to make suggestions e.g. Allons à la piscine?

Answer 8

Imperatives