French verb tenses:
a decision guide.

The five tenses worth mastering first

French has more tenses than any learner needs to start with. For A1–B2 communication, five cover almost everything: Présent, Passé Composé, Imparfait, Futur Simple, and Conditionnel Présent. The Subjonctif Présent is a mood, not a tense — it's covered separately. The literary tenses (Passé Simple, Imparfait du Subjonctif) show up in formal written French but you won't need to produce them before C1, and you won't need them at all for speaking.

• Présent — ongoing actions, habits, general truths, near future.
• Passé Composé — completed actions with a defined endpoint.
• Imparfait — background states, habitual past actions, ongoing conditions.
• Futur Simple — future events, predictions, conditional outcomes.
• Conditionnel Présent — hypotheticals, polite requests, reported speech.

Présent — the default tense

The Présent does more work in French than in English. It covers ongoing actions (je mange = I eat and I am eating — there's no separate progressive form), habits, general truths, and near-future events when a time marker is present. "Je pars demain" uses Présent, not Futur — this trips up English speakers who reach for the future tense automatically. It also appears in si-clauses for real possibilities: "Si tu travailles, tu réussis."

• Ongoing action: Il lit en ce moment. (He is reading right now.)
• Habit: Elle se lève à 7h. (She gets up at 7.)
• General truth: L'eau bout à 100 degrés. (Water boils at 100 degrees.)
• Near future with time marker: On part ce soir. (We're leaving tonight.)

Passé Composé — completed, bounded, relevant to now

The Passé Composé is the default past tense in spoken French. It covers completed actions with a defined endpoint — single events, sequences, actions with a result that matters now. The English distinction between "I ate" and "I have eaten" maps imperfectly to French. Both often translate as Passé Composé. Stop asking "how long ago?" and start asking "is this a bounded event or an ongoing condition?" — that's the more useful question.

• Single completed event: J'ai mangé une pomme. (I ate an apple.)
• Recent event relevant to now: Tu as vu mes clés ? (Have you seen my keys?)
• Sequence of past actions: Il est entré, a posé son sac, et est ressorti.
• Action with defined endpoint: Elle a travaillé ici pendant deux ans.

Imparfait — background, state, habit

The Imparfait describes conditions with no clear beginning or end from the speaker's perspective: states of being, background conditions, habitual past actions. In narrative, the Imparfait sets the scene; the Passé Composé moves it forward. The quickest test: can you substitute "used to" or "was [verb]-ing" in English? If yes, Imparfait is almost certainly correct.

• State of being: Il était fatigué. (He was tired.) — not a bounded event.
• Background condition: Il pleuvait quand je suis sorti. (It was raining when I went out.)
• Habitual past action: Quand j'étais enfant, je jouais au foot. (I used to play football.)
• Interrupted action: Je lisais quand il a appelé. (I was reading when he called.)

Passé Composé vs. Imparfait — the core distinction

This is the single most important tense distinction in French for A2–B1 learners, and the source of the most persistent errors. The logic is simple; the habit takes longer. PC = event (foreground, bounded, completed). Imparfait = state or condition (background, unbounded, ongoing). In narrative, they constantly appear together — the Imparfait sets the scene, the PC delivers the event that changed it.

• Il dormait (Imp.) quand le téléphone a sonné (PC). — He was sleeping when the phone rang.
• J'avais faim (Imp.) donc j'ai mangé (PC). — I was hungry so I ate.
• Elle travaillait (Imp.) à Paris depuis trois ans quand elle a rencontré (PC) son mari.

Futur Simple — prediction and obligation

In casual spoken French, people often use Présent + time marker or Futur Proche (aller + infinitive) instead of Futur Simple. But Futur Simple is essential in formal writing, predictions, consequences, and si-clauses: "Si tu travailles, tu réussiras." You need it for writing, and you'll hear it constantly in formal speech and news.

• Future event: Il partira demain matin. (He will leave tomorrow morning.)
• Prediction: Ça sera difficile. (That will be difficult.)
• Consequence in si-clause: Si vous étudiez, vous réussirez.
• Promise / obligation: Tu feras tes devoirs. (You will do your homework.)

Conditionnel Présent — hypotheticals and politeness

Three main uses. Hypotheticals: "if" clause in Imparfait, result in Conditionnel — "Si j'avais de l'argent, j'achèterais une voiture." Polite requests: "Je voudrais un café" is softer than "Je veux un café" — and significantly more natural in most social situations. Reported speech: future from a past perspective — "Il a dit qu'il viendrait." Worth noting: the Conditionnel uses Futur Simple stems with Imparfait endings, so getting the stem right is where most errors happen.

• Hypothetical (with si + Imparfait): Si tu venais, on pourrait parler. (If you came, we could talk.)
• Polite request: Pourriez-vous m'aider ? (Could you help me?)
• Reported future: Elle a promis qu'elle appellerait. (She promised she would call.)
• Rumour / unverified fact: Le président serait malade. (The president is reportedly ill.)

How Petit Béret trains tense selection

The Conjugation module drills form accuracy for individual tenses. But deciding which tense a context requires is a separate skill — one that the mixed-mode sessions practise by removing that decision from your hands. You see the sentence, you identify the tense, then you produce the form. The Daily Precision Drill pulls the tense-form combinations you got wrong most recently, so the ones you actually mix up get the most repetition, not the ones you already know.

Turn knowledge into reflexes.

Reading about tenses builds understanding. Drilling them in Petit Béret builds accuracy.