The subjunctive can be used in four different tenses, but it is rare to see the subjunctive mood used in all four. It’s often used to talk about feelings and possibilities. Le subjonctif is used to talk about uncertainty or unreality. There are 8 different verb tenses in the indicative mood: présent (present), imparfait (imperfect), passé simple (simple past), futur simple (simple future), passé composé (perfect), plus-que-parfait (pluperfect), passé antérieur (past anterior), and futur antérieur (future anterior).
This is your most basic mood, so if you’re going to focus on mastering anything today it should be this one. This mood is used to discuss facts and to ask questions. In French, just like in English, l’indicatif is the most commonly used mood. In order to break these 21 verb forms down as well as possible, we’re going to get started by splitting all of the French verbs into their different moods. If the subject is being acted upon by the verb, like “The glasses were broken by Jenaye,” then the verb is in the passive voice. If the subject is doing the verb like, “Jenaye broke her glasses,” the verb is in an active voice. The verb voice isn’t dependent on the situation, but rather where the subject is in comparison to the verb. So don’t worry if it takes you a few read-throughs to get these.įinally, you have the verb voice. In English, we don’t notice moods like subjunctive as much as we do in French, so it can be tricky to understand. But you also have verb moods like imperative, which is used in commands. In general, we speak in the indicative mood, which is used to talk about facts, opinions, or ask questions. Verb moods can be used across different time periods, so you can have subjunctive in both the past and the present. Verb moods or modes are what we were talking about with the subjunctive tense. For example, you have the simple present like “I eat,” but you also have simple continuous like “I am eating.” In both situations, the subject is eating in the present, but the meanings are slightly different. But there are a lot of variations on these three main tenses. We talked a little bit about verb tenses earlier, so you’ll probably remember that they come in three main tenses: past, present, and future. A verb tense shows the time period of the verb. For now here is a list of all 21 of the French verb forms:īefore we really get started, I want to clear up a few grammar definitions because these French explanations aren’t going to be helpful if you don’t understand what the English vocabulary even means. But don’t stress too much about the moods, we’ll get more into those later. Still, for the most part, it’s used to talk about situations, emotions, or feelings that aren’t considered inevitable or the present reality. The rules for the subjunctive tense aren’t always straightforward. Therefore, the verb “like” would be in the subjunctive mood because it isn’t a sure fact.
But you also have the subjunctive mood, which can’t technically belong in the simple past or simple present and requires its own present and past tenses because actions in the subjunctive mood are considered subjective and uncertain.įor example, in French, the subjunctive mood is used with verbs like “believe.” If you say, “I believe Sarah likes chocolate,” you aren’t sure she likes chocolate. In general, grammar experts believe there are three main tenses: past, present, and future. You have languages like Indonesian with no verb tenses, which makes French’s 21 different verb forms seem pretty complex. Language learning is more of a roller coaster than a walk in the park, so we’re here to keep the fear to a minimum and the fun to a maximum.įrench grammar is on the more complicated side as grammar systems go. We’ve been there, and we feel you, which is why we wanted to put together this master guide to help you along with your grammar-learning journey. If you’re learning French, and it’s 21 different verb forms, you’ve probably struggled over a few verbs charts or stumbled through telling a story in the future tense. The system of language gets a bad rap among language learners.
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