Language : French
Topic : The Big Five French Tenses : Present, Imperfect, Past, Future & Conditional
Skills : knowing what the tenses are and how to use them
Type of Exercise : Quiz
Aimed at : intermediate French learners
For use : in class / for homework / for cover

The Big Five French Tenses Quiz
Featuring The Present, Imperfect, Past, Future and Conditional

Fifty multiple-choice questions with four options each time.

Answers provided.

A quiz that is designed to be fun and generate discussion in class and encourage learners to investigate the topic further.

Designed to be used with intermediate-level learners of French.

Differentiation possible by withholding the multiple-choice options and using as a ‘straight’ quiz.

Designed with a class in mind that might be approaching their first national exams (National Five or GCSE) and needs a tense workout.

Sample Questions :

Question 1
Which of the ‘Big Five’ tenses is missing from this list : present, perfect, future, conditional ?

a) impermanent
b) imperfect
c) perpendicular
d) immaculate

Question 19
Je regardais, tu regardais, il/elle/on regardait, nous regardions, vous regardiez, ils/elles regardaient is the verb ‘to watch’ in the …

a) future tense
b) imperfect tense
c) conditional tense
d) perfect tense

Question 22
There are two future tenses. Why ?

a) Because there’s a difference between ‘I will go’ and 'I’m going to go’
b) To baffle foreigners
c) In case you can’t remember one of them
d) One is for women and the other for men

Question 31
The imperfect tense is used to express what you …

a) have done /did
b) did / were doing / used to do
c) will do / are going to do
d) would do

Question 46
In the perfect tense, the past participle of regular -ir verbs ends in…

a) u
b) i
c) é
d) ed