French Essential Tenses

Conjugate common regular -er verbs in le présent to describe daily routines and activities aloud.

Use the present-tense forms of être, avoir, aller, and faire in short social, travel, and work or school exchanges.

Form present-tense questions using intonation, est-ce que, and common interrogative words.

Negate present-tense statements with ne…pas when answering or correcting information in conversation.

Use venir de in le présent to say what has just happened with le passé récent.

Form le passé composé with avoir and regular past participles to report completed actions.

Form le passé composé with être for common movement verbs and apply subject–past participle agreement.

Use common irregular past participles in le passé composé to discuss completed everyday, travel, and work or school experiences.

Form l’imparfait of common verbs from the present-tense nous stem, including the irregular form of être.

Use l’imparfait to describe repeated actions and habits in the past.

Use l’imparfait to describe past settings, conditions, feelings, and actions in progress.

Choose between le passé composé and l’imparfait to distinguish completed events from background circumstances in a spoken account.

Use aller in le présent plus an infinitive to express plans and intentions with le futur proche.

Select among le présent, le passé récent, le passé composé, l’imparfait, and le futur proche according to when an action occurs and how the speaker views it.

Hold a short guided conversation about current life, recent and earlier experiences, and upcoming plans using all five target tenses.