This article is the second part of the Nuts and Bolts of French Verbs . This time I'm determined to go through the nuts and bolts of le futur simple, le conditionnel présent, le conditionnel passé, l'impératif présent and le subjonctif présent.

 

 

  • If you would like to know when you need to use each verb tense, please consult "The Landscape of Verbs" published earlier.

 

Before starting, here are some words of advice: this article is packed with info of different levels of difficulties. Have a look at one section at a time and make sure you understand it well before moving on to the next section, otherwise it might overwhelm you! This is not a race, so take the time to test each table with exercises of your own. Make up some sentences, ask a friend to test you, do anything that could make it sink!

 

Don't frame those sheets, use them! Think of this as a gym: I've built up all sorts of "machines" to train you. If you just glance at them, you won't be gaining muscle weight any time soon! If you are not sweating a little bit, you are not doing it right! Okay, now let's go!

 

Le Futur Simple

 

This verb tense is easy to conjugate, once you have mastered your fear of the letter R. Endings for the three groups are almost identical, so no funny surprise in sight! Let's have a look.

 

 

endings for 1st group

endings for 2nd group

endings for 3rd group

je
tu
il / elle / on
nous
vous
ils / elles

...erai
...eras
...era
...erons
...erez
...eront

...irai
...iras
...ira
...irons
...irez
...iront

...rai
...ras
...ra
...rons
...rez
...ront
 

 

Here is an example with the verb finir (to finish). It belongs to the second group:

 

  • je finirai
  • tu finiras
  • il finira / elle finira / on finira
  • nous finirons
  • vous finirez
  • ils finiront / elles finiront

 

What we can learn from this table:

 

  • There is always a pesky R in future tense.
    • Pronunciation tip: Don't rough up your throat over doing them but don't skip them entirely either. They are not hard to make, muscle wise. (Proof of that is French speakers amongst others don't sweat it.) Think about your mouth as an instrument, say a flute. Everyone was born with the same and is still equipped with the same potential notes today: you just need to find where all the "keys" are located. Aim for balance with a nice smooth sexy purr.

 

  • There are only three different sounds for the six different persons!
    • Je and vous finish with the sound [RAY] even though they are spelled differently
    • Tu, il, elle and on finish with the sound [RA]
    • Nous, ils and elles finish with sound [RON] (Don't stretch that "n" like you would in English!)

 

To bypass this, you can always try the "near future". It's not an actual verb tense as such, more like a popular habit. It mimics the English style "I will…"

 

  1. Conjugate the verb aller in the présent tense
  2. Tack an infinitive verb afterwards
    • Example: Je vais finir (I will finish)

 

Conditionnel Présent

 

Now that you know how to conjugate in the future, conditionnel présent will seem very easy. Again, all 3 groups behave nicely, with very little to tell them apart. Here's the table:

 

 

endings for 1st group

endings for 2nd group

endings for 3rd group

je
tu
il / elle / on
nous
vous
ils / elles

…erais

…erais

…erait

…erions

…eriez

…eraient

…irais

…irais

…irait

…irions

…iriez

…iraient

…rais

…rais

…rait

…rions

…riez

…raient
 

 

What we should notice from this:

 

  • There are only three different sounds for the six different persons!
    • Je, tu, il, elle, on and even ils and elles finish with the sound [RÈ]
    • nous finish with the sound [RI-ON]
    • vous finish with sound [RI-AY]

 

  • For the first person (je) the ending for the futur simple AND for the condionnel présent are almost the same, but not quite. This may require some reminder on pronunciation:
    • [RAY] and [RÈ] sound pretty much the same in France.
    • People from Quebec think it's essential to tell apart future and conditional tenses as the consequences are big. If you mean to say "I could" but you don't articulate enough, it will sound like "I will" and people's expectations will be greater! Make sure your [AY] for the future tense sounds like the letter A in the word "game" and your [È] for the conditionnel présent sounds like the letter E in words like "merry".

 

  • For the second and third person plural, make sure you pronounce your "I" (…rions, …riez) otherwise it will sound like future again! The verb finir would be:
    • je finirais
    • tu finirais
    • il finirait / elle finirait / on finirait
    • nous finirions
    • vous finiriez
    • ils finiraient / elles finiraient

 

Conditionnel passé

 

Conditionnel passé might scare you at first, but this it's not too dissimilar from the passé composé. This verb tense is also made of 2 parts. If you know to conjugate "avoir" and "être" in the conditionnel présent form, you already know the first part. If not, here they are:

 

Avoir

ÊTRE

J'aurais

tu aurais

il / elle / on  aurait

nous aurions

vous auriez

ils auraient

Je serais

tu serais

il /elle/ on serait

nous serions

vous seriez

ils /elles seraient
 

 

The second part is the same participe passé we used in passé composé! If you remember:

 

  • Verbs in ER will simply end in "é" pronounced [AY]. By the way, both "é" and "er" sound the same!
  • Verbs finishing in IR (second and third groups) will end in "i" which is pronounced [EE]
  • Verbs finishing in RE will ends in "is", which is also pronounced [EE]
  • Other Verbs will finish in "u" (most of them at any rate!)
  •  And some of the most common exceptions are: "mourir" = "mort", "courir" = "couru", "assoir" = "assis", "revenir" = "revenu", "naître" = "né" and "lire" = "lu".

 

Here are the tables for conditionnel passé:

 

AVOIR

endings for ER verbs

endings for IR verbs

endings for RE

endings for OIR

J'aurais

tu aurais

il / elle / on  aurait

nous aurions

vous auriez

ils auraient

...é

...é

...é

...é

...é

...é

…i

…i

…i

…i

…i

…i

…is

…is

…is

…is

…is

…is

…u

…u

…u

…u

…u

…u
 

 

ÊTRE

endings for ER verbs

endings for IR verbs

endings for RE

endings for OIR

Je serais

tu serais

il /elle/ on serait

nous serions

vous seriez

ils /elles seraient

...é(e)

...é(e)

...é(e)

...é(e)s

...é(e)s

...é(e)s

…i(e)

…i(e)

…i(e)

…i(e)s

…i(e)s

…i(e)

…is(e)

…is(e)

…is(e)

…is(es)

…is(es)

…is(es)

…u(e)

…u(e)

…u(e)

…u(e)s

…u(e)s

…u(e)s
 

 

Please note that with être you need to conjugate the second part, hence why I added an "s" for the three plural persons. Keep in mind that you will also need to add an "e" if the subject is a female, hence why I put it in brackets.

 

Let's see two examples, one with avoir and one with être:

 

  • "Finir" (to finish), would be:
    • j'aurais fini
    • tu aurais fini
    • il aurait fini, elle aurait fini, on aurait fini
    • nous aurions fini
    • vous auriez fini
    • ils auraient fini / elles auraient fini

 

  • "Partir" (to leave/depart/go) would be:
    • je serais parti (if it's a male); je serais partie (if it’s a female)
    • tu serais parti (if it's a male); tu serais partie (if it’s a female)
    • il serait parti / elle serait partie / on serait parti; on serait partie (if they are all females)
    • nous serions partis; nous serions parties (if they are all females)
    • vous seriez partis; vous seriez parties (if they are all females)
    • ils seraient partis; elles seraient parties (if they are all females)

 

We are doing well! Only two more to go! If you haven't been stopping between sections, now would be a good time to do so. I wouldn't mind a coffee personally!

 

Impératif Present

 

Impératif is used to tell someone to do something—technically "orders"—but I don't like the word "order". It seems harsh and I don't sense that harshness in all sentences written in impératif so take this word with a pinch of salt.

 

In English, when you give an "order", you simply use the verb in its infinitive for. It's a bit more complicated in French, but not by much. It does look weird though: there is no subject and there are only three "persons".

 

 

endings for 1st group

endings for 2nd group

endings for 3rd group

-

-

-

…e

…ons

…ez

…is

…issons

…issez

…s

…ons

…ez
 

 

  • The first person is for a friendly/casual "order". For example, "go to your room" said to a kid would be "va dans ta chambre". You may notice that the ending fo this verb (aller) is not the one listed for the first group. It's because "aller" is an irregular verb. I have no system to suggest you for those.

 

  • The second person is for "orders" when the person who speaks will perform the action too. For example, "Let's go now" could be loosely translated as "Partons maintenant" (Depart now). Everyone will be leaving shortly.

 

  • The last person is used either for a polite order (something said to someone older, or to a boss for example) or when speaking to a group (the person who said it won't be joining them though). So for example, a teacher might say to his pupils "Work in silence!" and this would be "Travaillez en silence!"

 

  • Verbs of the third group are awful. For example, the first person for the verb "vouloir" is "veux"."Devoir" is "dois" and technically "pouvoir" should be "peux" but they are so weird, I don't see how you can make a decent order with it. How can you force someone to "can" or to "must"? It's all a bit surreal.

 

  • The verb finir is from the second group so it would be:
    • Finis
    • Finissions
    • Finissez

 

Subjonctif Present

 

Students seem to think subjonctif is dead. It's not, it's simply not as obvious as other verb tenses because:

 

  • The first three persons are either identical or very nearly the same as the present tense!
  • The last three persons sound just like imparfait!

 

But you can spot it because All verbs are preceded with "que" (or the short version qu').

Let's see the table:

 

 

endings for verbs in ER, OIR, RE and IR of 3rd group

endings for IR of 2nd group

que je
que tu
qu'il/qu'elle/qu'on
que nous
que vous
qu'ils / qu'elles

...e
...es
...e
...ions
...iez
...ent

... isse
... isses
... isse
... issions
... issiez
... issent
 

 

The best tip I can give you remember the subjonctif, I owe it to a student who found order in the chaos. (Thanks Christina!) It goes like this:

 

  1. Find the verb in the present tense, third person plural (ils)
  2. Remove the "NT" at the end.
  3. Add "que je" in front.

 

That's it. You now have the first person singular (je) of the subjonctif.

 

  • For example: Vendre (to sell). In the present tense, third person plural it's "ils vendent". So if I take this "VENDENT" and remove the "NT", I get "VENDE". Which will become "que je vende".

 

  • For the verb finir, it would be:
    • que je finisse
    • que tu finisses
    • qu'il finisse / qu'elle finisse / qu'on finisse
    • que nous finissions
    • que vous finissiez
    • qu'ils finissent / qu'elles finissent

 

Conclusion

 

That concludes the curriculum I intended to share today. Make good use of it and don't get upset when you notice verbs don't behave exactly like "they should". French is an old and quirky language. It's not neat! Scholars are so fond of its quirks; they are unlikely to ever get "righted", so as a French learner, resistance and resentment are futile. Your best move is to go with the flow and do your best!

 

If you found this article useful, find the "Thumbs up" button and "like it"! Keep in mind teachers spend ages putting these articles together (in my case, ideas sometimes bother me when I watch a film and it can keeps me awake until 1am until my text or my picture is "just right".) It cost you nothing and all teachers could do with a little more love: feedback is half of our paycheck!

 

Hero Image (French Verbs 102) by Caroline Lévesque-Bartlett (Author)