French tenses are impossible!!!

[Curlewwoohoo]

Trying to learn some French on Duolingo before our summer hol. I just can't get my head around tenses at all! I'm really trying... I think I got stuck at the same point at school, many moons ago...

No need to over- complicate things with the subjunctive for summer holiday purposes. I got by living and working in France for 6 months with only O level French (which didn’t include the subjunctive)

Get yourself the Collins French Grammar book, OP.

That's just how the tenses go. You don't really need to know why. You just need to remember it.

Do you know why in English it's You speak rather than You speaks? No. It doesn't matter to know for the purposes of using the language.

As PPs said it's just conjugation. When I learned French we had weekly vocab and verb tests. It's the only way. In terms of recall... if you learn things then sleep on it you remember it better the next day. We used to have a test on a Monday so I would revise my verbs on a Sunday night.

Duolingo is fine at helping to remember patterns but I suspect you’re like me and you want to understand why rather than just learning by rote. I had a few lessons with a local French tutor and it really helped with things like conjugation and tenses. The example you gave early on is just conjugation so like saying “I speak” vs “he speaks” in English. Part of the issue I had was not knowing the grammatical meaning explanations for things in English never mind French!

So my tip would be to either get few lessons or buy some books on basic grammar. Having that foundation really helps, otherwise you’re building on sand.

@dizzydizzydizzy thats the one I use too.

Also there is a version of Duolingo that does explain things but it’s extra on top of the usual extra!

@Curlewwoohoo even French children are struggling with conjugation. So you’re in good company!

But I think one big issue in the U.K. is that you are somehow supposed to ‘learn’ rather than understand the rules (at least when they apply 😂😂).

1st group are the verbs finishing in -er. Like parl-er or chant-er.
Then the endings are always the same

Je parl-E
tu parl-ES
il (or elle) parl-E

nous parl-ONS
vous parl-EZ
ils (ou elles) parl-ENT

Then you use those endings for any verbs finishing in ER.
Like nous chant-ons (we sing), vous sautez (you jump), il dessine (he draws) etc….

I don't think Duolingo is good for trying to learn a language. It's good for revision/ a bit of vocab building etc but I would recommend lessons or books etc for understanding the grammar

And yes, when I got to a level french my parents discovered that I knew nothing about tenses in English grammar so got me an English tutor. The curriculum has gone too far the other way now but th fashion of not teaching us grammar at all was problematic!

I struggle with the kids English homework too, they're in yrs 2 & 4! We didn't get taught these things in the same way.

Exactly- no need to learn to use it as it is very old fashioned and hardly used nowadays. If you read 19C literature, then you will have to just recognise it, but not use it yourself.

Right, I did a French degree once upon a time and I love French verbs (sorry).

Best tip I was ever given - write out 3 or 4 fully conjugated verbs, whichever endings/tenses you're currently trying to learn, and stick them up in your bog. You'll have to look at them several times a day. Change them when they've stuck in your head.

Start with the regular endings and throw in a few irregular ones when you're feeling ready. A lot of the really common abstract verbs we use all the time (to be, to have) are irregular so it's worth learning these before you progress to far.

vous parlez

Curlewwoohoo
Parler for example. Paul parle Anglais. Tu parles Anglais - why is it parles and how to remember. Il parle , Elle parle, but then if there's more than one of them ils / elles parlent, where's that come from! I think I've clicked that nous makes the verb end in s, nous parlons. Sometimes I just plump for one and there's no real reason.
it follows the rule, if you look up a French verb/ secondary book you should find it, then take a look at the irregular ones x Duolingo isn’t great for learning from scratch in that way imo, I think you need to have the foundations first (tried to learn German and was lost)

Exactly, for er words, all endings sound the same if you change the 'nous' form (with 'ons' ending), for 'on' which is also third person as 'il' or 'elle'. Using 'one' in English sounds riculous and pompous (as in 'one is now a grand-mother) but in French it is perfectly acceptable and understood. So orally, same sound ending for all subjects, apart from the 'vous' with 'ez' (sounded).

je parle
tu parles
il/elle/on parle
ils/elles parlent all sound exactly the same.

Ici on parle français. Demain on joue au foot. L'année prochaine on va en Ecosse (no need for future tense, it is implied.

For the future, which is difficult as the 'root' changes for so many verbs- use 'aller + infinitive. Shame 'aller' is the most irregular tense in French- but just learn it by heart and use it again and again. And again, use 'on' instead of 'nous'

demain je vais à Londres (no need for future- it is implied). Or 'demain je vais voir mon ami Jean'
tu vas au cinéma ce soir? (future implied). Or 'tu vas jouer au foot ce soir?'
il va, elle va, on va au restaurant demain soir
vous allez regarder le match ce week-end?
Ils/elles vont visiter l'Ecosse cet été.

A pain of a verb to learn, but you can use it to express the future again and again (just like 'going to')..

As for the subjunctive, no need at all in most cases. Learn how to use another structure instead! 'il faut que je fasses attention' = 'je dois faire attention'. Done.

Most teachers make things much much too complicated and for no reason. Effective communication without the pain. Great.

Though in this context it would be "je voudrais" (present conditional) so the other poster was more right than this.

You can't go wrong doing this: on entering a shop etc. make eye contact with the staff, say bonjour madame/monsieur...then do the rest in clear and simple English.

I think you’d be much better off searching online for ‘essential holiday French’ or similar and I’m sure you’ll find lots of websites with basic phrases and audio recordings of them.
There are lots of online grammar resources too, but you could also try a podcast like Coffee Break French to learn more basics of the language.
Also, it’s important to remember that greetings and politeness are very important in France. If you go into a shop, or ask someone for assistance then ‘Bonjour Madame’ (or Bonsoir in the evening), and ending with ‘Merci, au revoir’ will help you come across as polite, even if you don’t manage to say much else in French!

I think it is just complicated- a lot of French households will have a copy of a book called Bescherelle which is like a dictionary of conjugations- it's really useful if you are learning the language in a serious way but probably a bit overkill if you're just wanting some vocabulary for a holiday!!! There is a version which also has an English translation in it.

It doesn't help that a lot of us really didn't properly learn grammar at school in English- inevitably it's much harder to learn another language if you can't easily cross reference what you're learning with what the equivalent language structure would be in your native tongue.

I find this attitude of so many British people,and Americans, sad, and I am afraid, very arrogant. And the bit when some just repeat louder and louder!
Make a bit of an effort, make mistakes too- and they will love and respect you for it.

French teacher here. Duolingo is useless for grammar. It expects you to pick it up by osmosis, with no explanation! There is nothing especially conceptually difficult to understand about tenses, once you've accepted that there are lots of them (though fewer than in English!) and that the verbs have different endings for each pronoun. It's just a hell of a lot of bits of verb to learn, that's the problem!

Can I recommend www.languagesonline.org.uk ? It's a free website for practising your vocab and grammar and it's got explanations and then online exercises, starting easy and getting harder.

Not always, in the case of the French...

Learn French with Alexa is a good youtube channel.

I speak 6 languages...what I was trying to say it is often easier for all parties if communication is in English.

Do you raise your voice and say it extra slowly as well?

FFS.