Simple and Compound French Tenses and Moods: Être Verbs

Temps et modes simples et composés

This chart shows the relationship between the conjugations of simple and compound French tenses and moods: each simple conjugation of être serves as the helping verb of a compound conjugation of the être verb aller. English translations are provided just to give you a rough idea; click the links for detailed lessons on how to use and translate each tense and mood.

Simple Tense / Mood		Helping Verb	Compound Tense / Mood
Infinitive	aller to go	être to be	Past infinitive	être allé to have gone
Present tense	je vais I go	je suis I am	Passé composé	je suis allé I have gone
Future	j’irai I will go	je serai I will be	Future perfect	je serai allé I will have gone
Conditional	j’irais I would go	je serais I would be	Conditional perfect	je serais allé I would have gone
Imperfect	j’allais I was going	j’étais I was (being)	Pluperfect	j’étais allé I had gone
Passé simple	j’allai I went	je fus I was	Past anterior	je fus allé I went
Subjunctive	j’aille I go	je sois I am/be	Past subjunctive	je sois allé I went
Imperfect subjunctive	j’allasse I went	je fusse I was	Pluperfect subjunctive	je fusse allé I had gone
Imperative	(tu) va go	sois be	Past imperative	sois allé have gone
Present participle	allant going	étant being	Perfect participle	étant allé having gone