Language/French/Grammar/The-present

The Present in French

The present tense (le présent) is used to describe actions that are happening now, habitual actions, or actions that will happen in the future. In French, there are three types of regular verbs: -ER, -IR, and -RE.

To conjugate regular verbs in the present tense, you need to remove the -ER/-IR/-RE ending and add the appropriate present tense ending based on the subject pronoun. Here is a conjugation table for the regular -ER verb parler (to speak):

Subject Pronoun	Ending	Verb Form
je	-e	parle
tu	-es	parles
il/elle/on	-e	parle
nous	-ons	parlons
vous	-ez	parlez
ils/elles	-ent	parlent

Here is a similar table for the regular -IR verb finir (to finish):

Subject Pronoun	Ending	Verb Form
je	-is	finis
tu	-is	finis
il/elle/on	-it	finit
nous	-issons	finissons
vous	-issez	finissez
ils/elles	-issent	finissent

And finally, a table for the regular -RE verb vendre (to sell):

Subject Pronoun	Ending	Verb Form
je	-s	vends
tu	-s	vends
il/elle/on	-	vend
nous	-ons	vendons
vous	-ez	vendez
ils/elles	-ent	vendent

Keep in mind that there are many irregular verbs in French, which means they do not follow the regular -ER/-IR/-RE pattern. Some examples of irregular verbs in the present tense include être (to be), avoir (to have), aller (to go), and faire (to do/make).

Here are some examples of sentences in the present tense:

• Je parle français. (I speak French.)
• Tu finis tes devoirs. (You finish your homework.)
• Il vend sa voiture. (He sells his car.)
• Nous aimons voyager. (We like to travel.)
• Vous prenez un café? (Are you having a coffee?)
• Elles sont amies depuis longtemps. (They have been friends for a long time.)

In summary, the present tense in French is used to describe actions that are happening now, habitual actions, or actions that will happen in the future. Regular verbs follow the -ER/-IR/-RE pattern, and irregular verbs have their own unique conjugation patterns. It's important to learn the conjugation of common verbs in the present tense to be able to communicate effectively in French.

Table of Contents

Nouns

• Types
• Gender
• Plural

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Determiners

• Articles
• Typical use of the definite article
• Typical use of the indefinite article
• The partitive article: du, de l', de la, des
• Use of indefinite and partitive articles after the negative forms ne... pas, ne... jamais, ne... plus, ne... guère
• Omission of the article
• Demonstrative determiners
• Possessive determiners

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Personal and impersonal pronouns

• Subject pronouns
• Object pronouns
• Stressed pronouns
• Demonstrative pronouns
• Possessive pronouns

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Adjectives

• Adjectives modifying the noun
• Adjectives which follow verbs or verbal expressions
• Adjectives with complements
• Indefinite and negative noun phrases with adjective complements
• Adjectives used as nouns
• Adjectives used as adverbs
• Masculine and feminine forms of adjectives
• Plural forms of adjectives
• Adjective agreement with nouns
• Invariable adjectives
• Compound adjectives
• Comparative and superlative forms of adjectives
• Subjunctive versus indicative in clauses dependent on a superlative adjective
• Absolute use of the superlative

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Adverbs

• Function of adverbs
• Formation of adverbs with the ending -ment
• Adjectives used as adverbs without addition of -ment
• Phrases used as adverbs
• English and French adverb formation
• Types of adverbs
• Location of adverbs

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Numbers, measurements, time and quantifiers

• Cardinal numbers
• Ordinal numbers
• Fractions
• Some differences in the use of cardinal and ordinal numbers in French and English
• Measurements and comparisons
• Dates, days, years
• Clock time
• Money
• Quantifiers

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Verb forms

• Conjugations
• Easy ways of generating some parts of the paradigms
• Changes in the stem form of some -er conjugation verbs
• Verbs whose stems end in c- or g-
• Verb paradigms

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Verb constructions

• Relations between verbs and their complements
• Intransitive constructions
• Directly transitive verbs
• Indirectly transitive verbs
• Ditransitive verbs
• The passive
• Pronominal verbs
• Impersonal verbs
• Verbs which take noun + adjective or noun + noun complements

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Verb and participle agreement

• Subject-verb agreement
• Agreement of the past participle with the subject of être
• Agreement of the past participle of verbs conjugated with avoir with a preceding direct object
• Agreement of the past participle of pronominal verbs in compound tenses

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Tense

• The present
• The past
• The future
• Other tenses indicating the time at which events occur relative to other events
• Combining tenses
• Tenses in direct and reported descriptions of events
• Tenses with si

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The subjunctive, modal verbs, exclamatives and imperatives

• The attitude of the subject to events: the subjunctive
• The use of devoir, pouvoir, savoir, falloir
• The French equivalents of the English modal verbs: 'would', 'should', 'could', 'may', 'might', 'ought to', and 'must'
• Exclamatives
• Imperatives

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The infinitive

• Introduction: what are infinitives?
• Infinitives as complements to other verbs
• Verbs which take infinitive complements without a linking preposition
• Verbs which take infinitive complements preceded by the preposition à
• Verbs which take an infinitive complement preceded by de
• Omission of objects before infinitives
• Infinitives as complements to adjectives
• Infinitives as complements to nouns
• Infinitives in subordinate clauses
• Infinitives as polite commands
• Quick-reference index to verbs taking infinitive complements

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Prepositions

• Introduction
• Prepositions listed alphabetically from à to vers
• French translations for common English prepositions

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Question formation

• Introduction
• Yes/no questions
• Information questions
• Order of object pronouns in questions involving inversion
• Order of negative particles in questions involving inversion
• Use of question words and phrases: qui?, que?, quoi?, quel?, de qui?, avec combien de? etc.
• Indirect questions

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Relative clauses

• Introduction
• Use of relative qui
• Use of relative que
• Preposition plus qui
• Use of lequel in relative clauses
• Use of dont, de qui, duquel/de laquelle/desquels/desquelles
• The use of où as a relative pronoun
• Use of relative quoi
• Free relative clauses and the use of ce qui, ce que, ce dont, ce à quoi, ce sur quoi, etc.
• Translating 'whoever', 'whatever', 'wherever', 'whenever', 'however'
• Indicative and subjunctive in relative clauses

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Negation

• Introduction
• Location of sentence negators
• Order of negators in multiple negation
• Omission of ne in sentence negation
• Order of negative elements in questions and imperatives
• ne... pas
• ne... que
• ne... aucun(e), ne... nul(le)
• ne... jamais
• ne... plus
• ne... guère
• ne... rien
• ne... personne
• ne... ni... ni
• sans used with other negators
• ne used alone

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Conjunctions and other linking constructions

• Introduction
• Coordinating conjunctions
• Subordinating conjunctions
• Conjunctions sometimes confused by English speakers
• Repeated subordinating conjunctions
• Subordinating conjunctions used with infinitive clauses
• après avoir/ être + past participle linking an infinitive clause to a main clause
• Past participle phrases used as linkers
• Present participles and gerunds

Other Lessons

• Adjectives modifying the noun
• Mass versus count nouns
• How to use falloir
• Choice of some time adverbs relative to the moment of speaking
• Compound adjectives involving demi—, nu— and mi—
• Impersonal vs Personal
• Pronominal verbs, the auxiliary “être” and the agreement of the past participle
• Pronominal Verbs Agreement
• Differences in the use of numbers in French and English Order of cardinal numbers and adjectives
• Plural indefinite article des VS preposition de and definite article les