How to Learn Past Tense Verbs in French

Make sure you know how to speak in present tense otherwise it'll be very difficult.

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".

Passé composé is relatively easy. You need to learn theavoir (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.

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 mangéLearn Past Tense Verbs in French Step 4Bullet1.jpg tu as mangéLearn Past Tense Verbs in French Step 4Bullet2.jpg il a mangéLearn Past Tense Verbs in French Step 4Bullet3.jpg nous avons mangéLearn Past Tense Verbs in French Step 4Bullet4.jpg vous avez mangéLearn Past Tense Verbs in French Step 4Bullet5.jpg ils ont mangéLearn Past Tense Verbs in French Step 4Bullet6.jpg

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.

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 parlaisLearn Past Tense Verbs in French Step 6Bullet1.jpg tu parlaisLearn Past Tense Verbs in French Step 6Bullet2.jpg il parlaitLearn Past Tense Verbs in French Step 6Bullet3.jpg nous parlionsLearn Past Tense Verbs in French Step 6Bullet4.jpg vous parliezLearn Past Tense Verbs in French Step 6Bullet5.jpg ils parlaientLearn Past Tense Verbs in French Step 6Bullet6.jpg

This is the same for all groups.