French grammar

French grammar as free reference charts: the endings of the main tenses, être and avoir, the irregular verbs, the present, the passé composé, the imparfait, the future, the conditional and the subjunctive; the articles le, la, les, un, une, du and de la; the personal pronouns, the possessives, the numbers and the prepositions for cities and countries — and a printable cheat sheet that puts the essentials on one page.

Every verb table conjugates real verbs: parler, finir and vendre for the three groups, and être, avoir, aller, faire and the other irregular verbs you use every day. The tables are built from our curated grammar rules and checked word forms, never typed by hand. Print a chart or save its picture — a companion for DELF exam preparation.

cheat sheets — the essentials on one page

French grammar cheat sheet: the essentials on one page · level A1 — French grammar on one printable page: verb endings in the main tenses, être, avoir, aller and faire, the passé composé, articles, pronouns and numbers.

articles, possessives and demonstratives

French articles: definite, indefinite and partitive · level A1 — French articles in one table: le, la, l', les; un, une, des; du, de la, de l'. Plus au, aux, du, des, and de after a negative: pas de pain.
French possessive adjectives — and ce, cet, cette, ces · level A1 — French possessive adjectives (mon, ma, mes, ton, son, notre, leur…) and demonstratives (ce, cet, cette, ces) in two tables, with the mon amie rule.

verbs

French verb conjugation: the endings of the main tenses in one chart · level A1 — French verb endings for the present, imparfait, future, conditional and subjunctive, with parler, finir and vendre conjugated in every main tense.
Être and avoir: conjugation in the main tenses · level A1 — Être (to be) and avoir (to have) conjugated in the present, imparfait, future, conditional, subjunctive, imperative and passé composé, person by person.
French irregular verbs: the forms to learn · level A1 — The most common French irregular verbs — être, avoir, aller, faire, venir, prendre, pouvoir, vouloir, devoir, savoir — in their key forms on one chart.
The French present tense: regular and irregular verbs · level A1 — French present tense endings for -er, -ir and -re verbs, spelling changes, être, avoir, aller and faire, reflexive verbs, negation and the imperative.
The passé composé: avoir or être + past participle · level A1 — How to form the French passé composé: avoir or être, the past participle, the être verbs (DR & MRS VANDERTRAMP), irregular participles and agreement.
The imparfait: the French imperfect tense · level A2 — French imparfait endings -ais, -ais, -ait, -ions, -iez, -aient with parler, finir, vendre and être, and when to use it instead of the passé composé.
The French future: futur simple and futur proche · level A1 — French future tense endings -ai, -as, -a, -ons, -ez, -ont, the irregular stems (ser-, aur-, ir-, fer-) and the futur proche: je vais + infinitive.
The French conditional: je voudrais, je pourrais · level A2 — The French conditional: future stem + imparfait endings, je voudrais and pourriez-vous for polite requests, and si + imparfait for 'if I had…'.
The French subjunctive (subjonctif présent) · level B1 — How to form the French subjunctive: the ils stem + -e, -es, -e, -ions, -iez, -ent, the irregular verbs (sois, aie, aille, fasse) and when to use it.

pronouns, prepositions and numbers

French personal pronouns: the complete chart · level A1 — French personal pronouns on one chart — je, me, le, lui, se, moi and the rest — plus y and en, and the order of two object pronouns: me le, le lui.
French numbers: 1 to 100 and beyond · level A1 — French numbers in two tables: 1 to 20 with the ordinals (premier, deuxième), then the tens and the tricky ones: soixante-dix, quatre-vingts.
French prepositions: places, cities and countries · level A1 — French prepositions for places — à Paris, en France, au Japon, aux États-Unis — with de, du, des for 'from', plus the core prepositions with examples.

practise and prepare

questions

How many tenses does French have?

Many on paper — eight in the indicative alone — but six or seven carry everyday French: the present, the passé composé, the imparfait, the futur simple and the futur proche, the conditional and the subjunctive. The verb conjugation chart puts the endings of the simple ones in one table.

What are the three groups of French verbs?

Regular -er verbs like parler, by far the largest group; regular -ir verbs like finir, which add -iss- in the plural; and a third group of everything else — -re verbs like vendre, -ir verbs like partir and irregular verbs such as aller and faire. Être and avoir, the two auxiliaries, are usually learned apart from the groups.

Can I print the French grammar charts?

Yes. Print any chart page, or download its pictures — they are free to share and adapt under CC BY 4.0, with a credit and a link to wspell.