There are seven different moods in French conjugation (among which four verbal moods): indicative (indicatif), subjunctive (subjonctif), conditional (conditionnel), imperative (impératif), infinitive (infinitif), participle (participe), and gerund (gérondif). The infinitive, participle, and gerundive are not verbal moods.
Conjugations for the different French verb tenses can be divided into two categories: simple and compound. Simple tenses have only one part (
je suis) whereas compound tenses have two: an auxiliary verb and the past participle (
j'ai été). The auxiliary verb is always either
avoir or
être.
There are 8 compound tenses based on the conjugation of the auxiliaries in the 8 simple tenses added to the past participle. Below you will find the list of the french tenses. Tenses are described under the mood to which they belong, and they are grouped as follows. Other compound tenses are constructed through the use of an auxiliary verb:
-
Indicative (Indicatif)
-
Subjunctive (Subjonctif)
-
Conditional (Conditionnel)
-
Imperative (Impératif)
-
Infinitive (Infinitif)
- Present (présent)
- Past (passé): formed with an auxiliary verb in the present infinitive
-
Participle (Participe)
- Present (présent)
- Past (passé)
- Gerund (Gérondif): (constructed by preceding the present participle with the preposition en)
Compound tenses
Conjugations for the different French verb tenses can be divided into two categories: simple and compound. Simple tenses have only one part (
je suis) whereas compound tenses have two: an auxiliary verb and the past participle (
j'ai été). The auxiliary verb is always either
avoir or
être.
There are 8 compound tenses based on the conjugation of the auxiliaries in the 8 simple tenses added to the past participle:
- auxiliary in present indicative + past participle of main verb = present perfect indicative (passé composé de l'indicatif)
- auxiliary in imperfect indicative + past participle of main verb = pluperfect indicative (plus-que-parfait de l'indicatif)
- auxiliary in simple past indicative + past participle of main verb = past perfect indicative (passé antérieur de l'indicatif)
- auxiliary in simple future indicative + past participle of main verb = future perfect indicative (futur antérieur de l'indicatif)
- auxiliary in present subjunctive + past participle of main verb = past subjunctive (passé du subjonctif)
- auxiliary in imperfect subjunctive + past participle of main verb = pluperfect subjunctive (plus-que-parfait du subjonctif)
- auxiliary in present conditional + past participle of main verb = past conditional (conditionnel passé)
- auxiliary in present imperative + past participle of main verb = past imperative (impératif passé)
French conjugation auxiliaries
The two auxiliaries of french conjugation are :
