Dear John,
What’s the best way to learn the tenses?

Is there any good method alternate to sitting down with a book and memorizing the uses and verb endings for each?

Salut !

There are phone applications you can download, like “Maître de Conjugasion” or similar websites where you can test yourself on the verb tenses / moods.

As someone who has studied Neuroscience, studies show that repeat testing beats rot memorization in terms of retention. You’re better off learning how the tense/mood is used and then practicing instead of starring at long lists.

Let me jump start your understanding some of the tenses, with an article on the future tenses in French and this one on the past tense. I personally tutored French students on these concepts, multiple times.

In fact, save some time and focus on the most used French verbs first!

I mainly learned the verbs through memorization in French class and Duolingo, but primarily through listening and using the verbs in the real world (aka with French people).

If you need anything else, I’m sure your answer is just a quick Google search away.

Good luck :)

John Elkhoury

Founder, FrenchCrazy

This question and response originally appeared on Reddit.

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