You might have been learning French for a while, or it might be a fairly recent endeavour. Or perhaps you’re thinking about learning French, and using our Easy Learning French Conversation blogs to get some inspiration!
Whatever stage you’re at, you might need some terms to express at what point in time an event or action is happening. You’re in luck, because this blog looks at the temporal words, phrases and expressions we can use to contextualise time for whatever subject we’re talking about.
When talking about different points in time in French, no matter what expressions and words you use to express it, the idea of time is always indicated by the conjugation of the verb used in the sentence. This might sound complicated, but it’s also the same in English grammar. We won’t get into all the details of tenses and verb conjugations as part of this blog, but let’s have a quick overview.
In English, you can see how the sentence and the verbs change according to whether they express present, past or future tense, in that order:
- I do / I am doing…
- I did / have done…
- I will do…
And here’s the same thing in French, using the verb faire:
- Je fais…
- J’ai fait…
- Je ferai…
But to place these verbs more specifically in time, there are other expressions, words and phrases we can use with them – that’s what this blog is all about.
Let’s start with words and expressions that help us place our actions in the present…:
aujourd’hui today
maintenant; à present now
à l’instant at the present moment
en ce moment at the moment
…followed by some examples of how these might appear in conversation alongside conjugated present tense verbs:
A : J’étudie aujourd’hui. I am studying today.
B : Toute la journée ? For the whole day?
A : Non, j’étudie en ce moment mais je vais aller au cinéma plus tard. No, I’m studying at the moment, but I am going to the cinema later.
Now let’s take a trip back in time. These words and expressions are used for anchoring our actions in the past:
hier yesterday
autrefois in the past
l’année dernière/passée last year
avant-hier the day before yesterday
dans le passé in the past
And once again, we’ll look at how these might work in a conversation example talking about the past. You’ll notice both the perfect and imperfect tense are used:
A : Nous avons rencontrés nos amis hier soir. We met our friends yesterday evening.
B : Ah bon, vous étiez où ? Oh, right, where were you?
A : Au nouveau bar du coin. Autrefois, on rencontrait au centre-ville mais c’est plus sympa de rester au quartier. At the new local bar. In the past, we used to meet up in town but it’s nicer to stay in the neighbourhood.
Some expressions referring to past time can feel a bit confusing, since they do not always need their verbs to be conjugated in the past tense – they can stay in the present tense. But they’re certainly worth memorising because they’re used often in casual conversation:
il y a trois ans three years ago
il y a six minutes six minutes ago
Ça fait deux ans que j’apprends le français. I’ve been learning French for two years.
Ça fait quelques mois que j’habite ici. I’ve been living here for a few months.
venir de + [verb infinitive] to have just [verb]
Je viens de sortir la poubelle. I just took out the bin.
On vient de quitter la maison. We just left the house.
Last but not least, we’ll take a quick visit to the future. Remember that French verbs conjugated in the future tense consist of one word, and that there’s no extra word that equates to the modal verb ‘will’ that indicates future tense in English. For more information, you can read our Easy Learning French Grammar pages on forming the future tense.
Now for some useful words and phrases that might be handy for referring to future actions or events:
demain tomorrow
à l’avenir in future
au futur in the future
l’année prochaine next year
la semaine prochaine next week
dans une heure in an hour (from now)
plus tard later (on)
And finally, we’ll look a conversation example talking about future plans:
A : Veux-tu partir en vacances avec nous ? Nous partirons dans trois semaines. Do you want to come on holiday with us? We will be leaving in three weeks.
B : C’est difficile pour le travail, parce que je prendrai déjà les vacances la semaine prochaine. It’s difficult for work, because I’ll already be taking holidays next week.
A : Ah c’est dommage ! Ah, that’s a shame!
B : Ouais, mais peut-être je pourrai partir en vacances avec vous à l’avenir. Yeah, but maybe I’ll be able to go on holiday with you all in the future.
Written by Holly Tarbet, freelance copywriter and editor.
All opinions expressed on this blog are those of the individual writers, and do not necessarily reflect the opinions or policies of Collins, or its parent company, HarperCollins.
