How to Learn Past Tense Verbs in French

Last Updated: September 15, 2021

Have you mastered French present-tense and find that you struggle in real conversation? Past-tense will really enhance your French speaking skills and is easy to learn, too.

Steps

1
Make sure you know how to speak in present tense otherwise it'll be very difficult.
2
Learn that there are 2 different ways of speaking past tense - Passé composé and Imparfait. The first is for something that has been completed, like "ate" or "jumped". The second is more of a continual action, such as "was going" or "was eating".

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3
Passé composé is relatively easy. You need to learn the avoir (to have) and the être (to be) verbs really well. Take the verb manger (to eat) for example. This has an -er ending so is part of the first group.
4
First, write down the conjugations of the verb avoir: j'ai, tu as, il a, nous avons, vous avez and ils ont. Then add mangé on the end of those:
- j'ai mangé
- tu as mangé
- il a mangé
- nous avons mangé
- vous avez mangé
- ils ont mangé
5
For all the other verb groups this is the same with the exception of the endings. Most words with ir will conjugate to i or s, oir to u, and re to u.
6
For Imparfait, it is even easier. Put the whole verb down, e.g. je parle (parler), take off the -er and then add ais:
- je parlais
- tu parlais
- il parlait
- nous parlions
- vous parliez
- ils parlaient
7
This is the same for all groups.

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Community Q&A

Question

How do I form the past tense of regular verbs with the auxiliary 'avoir'?

Community Answer

You use "avoir" in present + the verb in past participle form. For the first group of verbs that end with "er", the past partciple form is the same verb except that you remove the "er" and add "é" (for example : j'ai mangé (for the verb manger). For the second group of verbs ending with "ir", you remove "ir" and add "i" ( for example: j'ai fine (for the verb finir).
Question

What's the passé composé of décider in French?

Community Answer

j'ai décidé tu as décidé il a décidé nous avons décidé vous avez décidé ils ont décidé
Question

How do I learn past tense in french?

Community Answer

Study "how to use passé composé" to get started.
Question

When would I use the imparfait tense?

Community Answer

You would use it when talking about a continuous action, like 'was going'.