The French Verb in All Its Forms

French verbs have 3 groups and 3 voices, 6 modes and 8 main tenses.

I - THE 3 GROUPS

1. The first group: The "er" infinitives are the first and largest of the verbs groups verbs. This group consists of enriched regular verbs. However, verbs such as "scannériser" and new inventions were formed in the past couple of decades.

2. The second group: Includes the words "ir" and whose present participle ends with "issant ..." ( "finir" ends with "ir", its present participle is "finissant"). There are only 300 verbs in the second group.

3. The third group: The verb "ir", "oir" and "re ", which includes " ant," make up the third group. There are just over 200 of these verbs. Among them are the most common (devoir, dire, faire...) which are also the most capricious of the French language. These words are largely responsible for the intimidating nature of French conjugation with foreign language students.

II - THE 3 VOICES

1. The Active Voice
2. The Passive Voice
3. The Pronominal Voice

III - THE 6 MODES
1. Indicative (Indicatif)
2. Subjunctive (Subjonctif)
3. Conditional (Conditionnel)
4. Imperative (Impératif)
5. Participle (Participe)
6. Infinitive (Infinitif)

IV - THE 8 MAIN TENSES

1. Present (Présent)
2. Imperfect (Imparfait)
3. Preterite, Simple Past (Passé simple)
4. Present Perfect (Passé composé)
5. Past Perfect (Plus-que-parfait)
6. Past Anterior(Passé antérieur)
7. Future (Futur)
8. Future Perfect (Futur antérieur)


Sources: "Le Petite Livre de la Conjugasion Correcte" by Jean-Jopesh Julaud; "Websters New World Concise French Dictionary"; "500 French Verbs" by Christopher Kendris Ph.D.