The 5 Uses of the French Present Tense 🇫🇷
One tense, five jobs: an action happening now, a general truth, a habit, a near future, and a future after si. Students match twenty lively sentences to the right use, from le soleil se lève à l’est to le métro arrive dans cinq minutes.
Then they go further: on a notebook, they write five sentences of their own, one per use. And the answer key teaches the tricky part: sometimes only the context decides, like en ce moment, which can mean right now or these days.
✨ What students practise
First, a clear lesson box: A for the action happening now (je me prépare pour sortir), B for general truths (l’eau bout à 100 °C), C for habits (je prends un thé tous les matins), D for the near future (je pars tout à l’heure), E for the future after the conditional si (si tu sors à 12h, tu ne seras pas à l’heure).
Then twenty sentences to sort, and a writing task: five sentences of their own, one per use. The answer key goes beyond the letters: it explains the ambiguous cases, like mon père prépare le dîner en ce moment, which can be A or C depending on the context.
Read the lesson box: the five uses, from now to the future after si.
Write A, B, C, D or E in the brackets of the twenty sentences.
On a notebook, write five sentences of your own, one per use.
Compare with the answer key and its notes on the tricky cases.
🔤 The five uses at a glance
Everything the lesson box teaches, plus the bonus of the answer key:
💎 Download the worksheet (Premium)
One page with the lesson box, the twenty sentences and the writing task, plus the answer key with its context notes. The DOCX lets you adapt the sentences to your group.
Preview: lesson box, twenty sentences and the writing task
🎯 Recommended level
❓ Frequently asked questions
📚 What level is this worksheet for?
Mainly A2-B1: the five uses are introduced at A2, and the ambiguous cases (en ce moment, tous les jours versus now) make a nice B1 discussion.
🔤 What is the task exactly?
Students write A, B, C, D or E in the brackets of twenty sentences, then write five sentences of their own, one per use, on a notebook.
🤔 What makes the answer key special?
It explains the cases where two answers are possible: mon père prépare le dîner en ce moment can be A or C, and les chiens aboient souvent la nuit can be B or C, depending on how you read the context.
✅ Is there an answer key?
Yes, with the twenty letters and the notes on the ambiguous sentences.
💎 Is the worksheet free?
No. The PDF and the editable DOCX are reserved for Premium members.
