Tous les Temps d'un Verbe Régulier en un Coup d'Œil

This is the master reference page for French regular-verb conjugation. Every tense and mood, every person, side by side for the three regular patterns: parler (the -er pattern, by far the largest group — over 90% of French verbs), finir (the -ir verbs that take -iss- in the plural — the productive -ir pattern), and vendre (the -re verbs whose past participle ends in -u — the dwindling but still core -re pattern).

The point of seeing all three at once is that the endings are largely shared across patterns; what changes is the stem and the past participle. Once you internalize this, you stop conjugating verb-by-verb and start conjugating by extracting a stem and applying an ending grid. That is how French speakers actually do it — not by memorizing 100 separate tables, but by knowing the grid and knowing how to find the stem.

Bookmark this page. You will come back to it.

The three regular patterns

The 3e groupe also contains all the irregulars (être, avoir, aller, faire, prendre, etc.) — but those don't follow this -re/-u pattern. They follow no shared pattern; that's why they are the irregulars. For those, see irregular verbs complete and all tenses at a glance — irregular.

Présent de l'indicatif

The everyday present tense.

The third-person singular of -re verbs (il vend) has no written ending — the stem ends in -d and that suffices. This is the only place in regular conjugation where the third-person singular is bare.

Imparfait

The past tense of background, description, ongoing states, and habits. The endings are identical across all three patterns; only the stem changes. The stem is always the nous form of the present minus -ons: parl-, finiss-, vend-.

Passé simple (literary)

The literary past — alive in novels, history writing, fairy tales, news headlines, and formal narrative. Almost never spoken. Spoken French uses the passé composé in its place. (literary)

The endings are pattern-specific:

• -er verbs: -ai, -as, -a, -âmes, -âtes, -èrent
• -ir verbs: -is, -is, -it, -îmes, -îtes, -irent
• -re verbs (the -u type): most -re verbs in this group actually take -is-pattern endings (je vendis), the same as -ir verbs. The -u-pattern of the passé simple (je vins, je tins, je voulus) is a separate irregular family. The regular -re/-u verbs like vendre, rendre, perdre, attendre all take -is endings in the passé simple.

The circumflex on the nous and vous forms (parlâmes, parlâtes) is mandatory and easy to forget. It is the marker of the passé simple in those persons.

Futur simple

The simple future. Crucially, the futur stem for all three regular patterns is the entire infinitive — parler-, finir-, vendr- — and the endings are -ai, -as, -a, -ons, -ez, -ont. Notice that vendre drops the silent -e of the infinitive before the futur endings: vendr- not vendre-.

Conditionnel présent

Same stems as the futur (parler-, finir-, vendr-), but with the imparfait endings (-ais, -ais, -ait, -ions, -iez, -aient).

Subjonctif présent

The present subjunctive. Endings are identical for all three patterns: -e, -es, -e, -ions, -iez, -ent. The stem is the ils form of the present indicative minus -ent: parl-, finiss-, vend-. For finir, the present subjunctive thus uses the long finiss- stem in every person — including je and tu.

Subjonctif imparfait (literary)

The literary subjunctive. Reserved for highly formal writing, classical literature, and certain set phrases — never used in modern speech. (literary)

The stem is the same as the passé simple. Endings: -sse, -sses, -^t, -ssions, -ssiez, -ssent. Note the circumflex on the third-person singular: qu'il parlât, qu'il finît, qu'il vendît. This circumflex is mandatory and is the most recognizable signature of the form.

For finir and vendre, the je, tu, nous, vous, ils forms of the subjonctif imparfait are spelled identically to the passé simple, distinguishable only by the que and the third-person -ît with circumflex. The two tenses sit in the same morphological neighborhood; this is not an accident.

Impératif

Direct commands. Three persons only: tu, nous, vous. No subject pronouns.

A quirk of -er verbs: the tu imperative drops the final -s of the present indicative (tu parles → parle). For -ir and -re verbs, the tu imperative is identical to the tu present (tu finis → finis; tu vends → vends). The dropped -s reappears before the pronouns en and y: parles-en (talk about it), vas-y (go ahead).

The compound tenses

All compound tenses are built from auxiliary (avoir or être) + past participle. Parler, finir, vendre are all avoir verbs. Past participles: parlé, fini, vendu.

For the full pattern across all seven compound tenses with detailed paradigm tables, see all tenses paradigm — compound. Below is the je-form across all compound tenses, for reference.

Non-finite forms

These are the forms with no person marking — they describe the verb in the abstract or attach to other verbs.

The participe présent (parlant, finissant, vendant) and the gérondif (en parlant, en finissant, en vendant) share the same form — built on the nous present stem plus -ant. The difference is that the gérondif is preceded by en and means "by/while doing"; the participe présent is used adjectivally or in formal subordinate clauses.

How to read this table strategically

If you only memorize one part of the regular paradigm, memorize parler. The -er pattern covers about 90% of French verbs. The other 10% almost all follow either the finir pattern (long -iss- stem in plural) or sit in the irregular zone covered by all tenses at a glance — irregular.

A second insight: for any regular verb, knowing four forms lets you generate everything else.

This is how French speakers actually generate forms — not by memorizing a table, but by extracting these four anchor points and applying the ending grids automatically.

Comparison with English

English verb morphology is dramatically simpler. The English present tense has two forms (I/you/we/they speak vs he speaks); French has six. English has one past tense form (spoke); French has two simple past tenses (parlais, parlai) plus their compound counterparts (j'ai parlé, j'avais parlé, j'eus parlé). English has no separate subjunctive form for most verbs (it is necessary that he speak — bare infinitive); French has a full subjunctive paradigm in two tenses (présent, imparfait) plus their compound forms.

The upshot: a single English verb has at most about 5 distinct forms (speak, speaks, spoke, spoken, speaking); a single French verb has roughly 50 distinct forms across all tenses, moods, and persons. This is why French verb conjugation feels so heavy to English speakers. The good news: most of the heavy machinery is regular, and once you know the grid, you generate forms instead of memorizing them.

Common Mistakes

Key takeaways

• French has three regular conjugation patterns: parler (-er, the dominant 90%), finir (-ir/-iss-, productive but smaller), vendre (-re/-u, closed list).
• The endings for futur, conditionnel, imparfait, and subjonctif are shared across all three patterns. Only the stem changes. Memorize the endings once; apply them to any regular verb.
• Four key forms generate everything: infinitif (futur/conditionnel stems), 1st-plural présent (imparfait, participe présent), 3rd-plural présent (subjonctif présent), past participle (all compound tenses).
• The literary tenses — passé simple, passé antérieur, subjonctif imparfait, plus-que-parfait du subjonctif — are recognized for reading but rarely produced. Their existence is part of the system; their absence from speech is part of register.
• Mastery of the regular paradigm is the foundation. The irregulars sit on top of this baseline and resist it in specific, memorizable ways.