181 - French Verb Tenses for Beginners

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In this episode, you’ll learn 7 French tenses every beginner should know — with examples and when to use each one. ⏱️✨

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Transcript

Bonjour à tous, hello everyone — and welcome back to the French Made Easy podcast!

This is episode number 181 — numéro cent quatre-vingt-un.

Today, we’re talking conjugation! and most specifically, about French verb tenses 🕒. I'll explain the main ones you need to know as a beginner — when to use them and why they're important. Of course, I'll also share plenty of examples!

Before we start, as usual, make sure you’ve got your lesson cheat sheet in front of you so you can follow along and see how everything is written. And after this episode, head to the French Made Easy Exercise Library to practise. It’s free — all the links are in the episode notes!

Let’s get started! 🎧

What’s a tense?

A verb tense tells us when something happens — now, before, or later.

In French, we use different tenses to talk about the present, the past, and the future.

You don’t need to master all of these tenses at once — but knowing what they are will help you follow along more easily when you hear or read French, and in your future French studies.

Let’s go through the most important ones for beginners:

1. Le Présent – The Present Tense

We use le présent to talk about what's happening right now, what happens regularly, or things that are general facts. This is the tense that you’ll use the most as a beginner.

Examples:

• Je mange une pomme. (I’m eating an apple.)
• Elle va à l’école tous les jours. (She goes to school every day.)
• La Terre est une planète. (Earth is a planet.)

2. Le Passé Composé – The Passé Composé

We use le passé composé to talk about completed actions in the past. It's formed with two parts: a helping verb (avoir or être) + a past participle (like mangé, allé, etc.).

Examples:

• Hier, j’ai mangé une pizza. (Yesterday, I ate a pizza.)
• Elle a visité Paris l’année dernière. (She visited Paris last year.)
• Le week-end dernier, on a regardé un film. (Last weekend, we watched a movie.)

3. L’Imparfait – The Imperfect Tense

L’imparfait is another past tense. Unlike the passé composé, which describes completed actions, l'imparfait describes ongoing actions, repeated habits, or states in the past.

Examples:

• Quand j’étais petit, je jouais dehors tous les jours. (When I was little, I used to play outside every day.)
• Quand j’habitais en Bretagne, il pleuvait souvent. (When I was living in Brittany, it was often raining.)
• Elle était toujours gentille avec moi. (She was always kind to me.)

If you’re not 100% confident when to use passé composé vs imparfait, don’t panic — I’ve got a full episode on that coming soon!

4. Le Futur Proche – The Near Future

We use le futur proche to talk about things happening very soon. It's very common in everyday speaking and very easy to use: just take the verb aller + another verb in the infinitive (the base form of the verb, like manger, regarder, faire, apprendre, etc.).

Examples:

• Je vais bientôt apprendre le français. (I’m going to learn French soon.)
• On va regarder un film ce soir. (We’re going to watch a movie tonight.)
• Il va faire ses devoirs après le dîner. (He’s going to do his homework after dinner.)

5. Le Futur Simple – The Simple Future

We use le futur simple to talk about actions that will happen later. It’s great for speaking about plans, predictions, or scheduled actions.

Examples:

• Demain, je prendrai le train. (Tomorrow, I’ll take the train.)
• Elle finira le travail à 17h. (She’ll finish work at 5pm.)
• Ce soir, on dînera chez mes parents. (Tonight, we’ll have dinner at my parents’ place.)

6. Le Conditionnel Présent – The Present Conditional

We use le conditionnel présent to talk about what would happen in certain situations, or to be polite. It’s very common for making polite requests or sharing wishes.

Examples:

• Je voudrais un café, s’il vous plaît. (I’d like a coffee, please.)
• Est-ce que tu aimerais venir avec nous au théâtre ? (Would you like to come with us to the theatre?)
• Avec plus de temps, on voyagerait plus souvent. (With more time, we’d travel more.)

7. Le Subjonctif – The Subjunctive Mood

Le subjonctif is not a tense (it doesn't tell you when), but a mood. It shows how the speaker feels about something—usually after phrases expressing wishes, doubts, emotions, or uncertainty.

Examples:

• Je veux qu’il réussisse. (I want him to succeed.)
• Il faut que tu viennes. (You must come.)
• J’ai peur qu’il soit malade. (I’m afraid he’s sick.)

🔁 Quick Recap

Let’s quickly go over everything we've learned today:

• Le Présent → now, regular actions, facts.
• Le Passé Composé → completed past actions.
• L’Imparfait → ongoing past actions, habits, or descriptions.
• Le Futur Proche → things happening very soon.
• Le Futur Simple → future plans, predictions, scheduled actions.
• Le Conditionnel Présent → politeness or hypothetical situations.
• Le Subjonctif → mood after wishes, doubts, emotions, or uncertainty.

That's it for today’s episode! Remember, you don’t need to memorize everything right away—one step at a time!

Don’t forget your cheat sheet, and head to the French Made Easy Exercise Library to practise.

Thanks for listening — I’ll chat with you next week!

À bientôt. 🤍