How many tenses do I need to know? There are about 10 so I’ve heard. Are the ones such as Plus-que-parfait and Futur antérieur vital to know?
It all depends on what “vital” and “know” mean to you.
Passé antérieur, subjonctif imparfait and subjonctif plus-que-parfait are very rarely used including in litterature so they’re certainly not vital. As for the others, some have scaring names like Futur antérieur (I’d bet most natives don’t know what it corresponds to) but in fact they are used quite frequently.
Passé simple is only used in books.
Anyway, I don’t think it’s worth learning conjugation tables. Just learn to recognize them, and try to figure out why they’re used when you come accross them. The names are not important.
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Basically what Jorgis said. Futur antérieur is important. But at the same time, don’t worry about it. I had to look it up to see what it was and my reaction was basically “oh that thing.” I didn’t even think about it as a tense.
J’aurai parlé avec toi. I will have spoken with you. Il aura inscrit. He will have registered.
In my head its kind of the opposite of the passé composé. This is only how I think about it, and you think about it in any way you want.
Same pretty much goes for the pluperfect.
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@jorgis - I want to read french and speak to people in french. I do recognise the present, past , imperfect tenses.
@djvlbass - Thanks for that. I’m not worrying about it.
@jorgis - I want to read french and speak to people in french. I do recognise the present, past , imperfect tenses.
@djvlbass - Thanks for that. I’m not worrying about it.
I find that the things I come across most often I gradually come to know, at least to recognize, and eventually to be able to use. I think you can choose to focus on certain tenses now, and then you may find yourself become more curious about others later as things start to become clearer and clearer and your expectations of yourself become greater and greater There are always things to discover in a language. The main thing is to enjoy the process, as I am sure you do.
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@steve - Thank you for your advice. When I read content, it is much clearer now since I’ve looked up grammar rules quickly and I haven’t studied them, just read the explainations. I will try to enjoy the process but I sometimes feel stressed but I’m trying to relax.