1. Simple Tenses:
* Présent (Present): Describes actions happening now, habitual actions, and general truths.
* Passé composé (Past Perfect): Describes actions that are completed in the past.
* Imparfait (Imperfect): Describes actions that were ongoing in the past, habitual actions in the past, or descriptions of the past.
* Passé simple (Simple Past): Used mainly in written French, especially literature and formal texts, to describe completed actions in the past.
* Futur simple (Simple Future): Describes actions that will happen in the future.
* Conditionnel présent (Present Conditional): Expresses hypothetical actions or possibilities in the present or future.
2. Compound Tenses:
* Plus-que-parfait (Pluperfect): Describes actions that were completed before a specific point in the past.
* Passé antérieur (Past Anterior): Used in specific literary contexts and very rarely in everyday speech.
* Futur antérieur (Future Perfect): Describes actions that will be completed before a specific point in the future.
* Conditionnel passé (Past Conditional): Expresses hypothetical actions or possibilities in the past.
3. Additional Considerations:
* Aspect: French verbs also have *aspect*, which indicates the completion or duration of an action. For example, the *passé composé* is perfective (action is completed), while the *imparfait* is imperfective (action is ongoing).
* Mood: Verbs in French can also be conjugated in different *moods*, such as the *indicative* (factual statements), *subjunctive* (expressing doubt, possibility, or desire), *imperative* (commands), and *conditional* (hypothetical statements).
Therefore, while there is no single "tense" in French, the French language has a rich system of verb conjugations that express time, aspect, and mood.