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Tenir Conjugation

tenir means "to hold" in French. Present: je tiens, tu tiens, il / elle / on tient, nous tenons, vous tenez, ils / elles tiennent. Below: all 23 tenses we teach, with examples.

Present Présent

Add the present-tense endings to the verb stem; it covers current actions, general truths, habits, and (informally) the near future.

Present progressive être en train de + infinitif

A periphrastic construction, not a true tense: conjugate être en train de in the present, followed by the infinitive. Used to stress that an action is happening right now, more emphatically than the simple present.

Passé composé

Avoir or être in the present + past participle. The everyday spoken and written past tense for a single completed action ('I spoke', 'I have spoken').

Imperfect Imparfait

Stem from the nous form of the present (minus -ons) + imperfect endings. Describes ongoing or habitual past actions, background description, and states ('I was speaking', 'I used to speak').

Pluperfect Plus-que-parfait

Avoir or être in the imperfect + past participle. Describes an action completed before another past action ('I had spoken').

Simple past (literary) Passé simple

Literary tense built on its own stem with distinctive endings; used only in formal narrative writing (novels, history, journalism) and never in speech, where the passé composé replaces it. Marks a single completed past action viewed as a finished event.

Past anterior (literary) Passé antérieur

Avoir or être in the passé simple + past participle. Purely literary; appears in a subordinate clause after quand, lorsque, dès que, à peine to mark an action just completed before the passé simple action in the main clause.

Near future Futur proche

Aller in the present + infinitive. The normal, everyday way to talk about the near or planned future, much more common in speech than the futur simple.

Simple future Futur simple

Infinitive (or an irregular future stem) + future endings (-ai, -as, -a, -ons, -ez, -ont). Used for future events, promises, and predictions, and in formal or written style.

Future perfect Futur antérieur

Avoir or être in the simple future + past participle. Marks an action that will be completed before another future action or a future deadline ('I will have spoken').

Recent past Passé récent

Venir de in the present + infinitive. Describes an action that just happened a moment ago ('I have just spoken').

Conditional present Conditionnel présent

Infinitive (or irregular future stem) + imperfect endings. Expresses hypothetical or polite statements ('I would speak'), the result clause of a hypothesis with si + imparfait, and softened requests.

Conditional past Conditionnel passé

Avoir or être in the conditional present + past participle. Expresses what would have happened, regret, or reproach, and is the result clause of si + plus-que-parfait.

Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent

Stem from the ils form of the present (minus -ent) + subjunctive endings (nous/vous forms usually match the imperfect indicative). Used after que in the dependent clause whenever the main clause expresses will, necessity, emotion, doubt, or judgment.

Past subjunctive Subjonctif passé

Avoir or être in the present subjunctive + past participle. Used the same way as the present subjunctive but for an action seen as completed before the time of the main verb.

Imperfect subjunctive (literary) Subjonctif imparfait

Built on the passé simple stem + distinctive endings. Almost extinct outside formal literature (replaced by the present subjunctive in speech and ordinary writing); used when the main verb is in a past tense and the rule of sequence of tenses is respected in formal style.

Pluperfect subjunctive (literary) Subjonctif plus-que-parfait

Avoir or être in the imperfect subjunctive + past participle. The literary equivalent of the past subjunctive, used after a past main verb in formal written narration; in speech the subjonctif passé replaces it.

Present imperative Impératif présent

Same form as the present indicative (dropping the subject pronoun), except -er verbs drop the final -s in the tu form. Only exists for tu, nous and vous; used for direct commands, requests and suggestions. Negative commands simply place ne ... pas around the same verb form.

Past imperative Impératif passé

Avoir or être in the imperative + past participle; rare, used to order that something be completed by a certain point ('have finished by...'). Exists only for tu, nous and vous.

Infinitive Infinitif

The dictionary form of the verb; used after modal and semi-modal verbs, prepositions, and as a verbal noun.

Present participle Participe présent

Stem from the nous form of the present (minus -ons) + -ant. Used as a verbal adjective or, preceded by en, to form the gerund; invariable when used verbally.

Gerund Gérondif

En + present participle. Expresses an action simultaneous with, or the manner/means of, the main verb's action ('while/by speaking').

Past participle Participe passé

Forms the compound tenses with avoir/être and is used as an adjective; agrees in gender and number with the subject (être verbs, reflexives) or with a preceding direct object (avoir verbs).

Examples

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