To check tense consistency, read your account once only for verbs. Label each verb with the time it describes, then compare that label with the time phrases around it. Change only the verbs that disagree.
This is the final lesson in past and future meaning. It joins the three earlier skills: reading the time phrase, separating events from background and stating future plans. It is also a habit worth keeping for any writing task in developing an original written response.
What does a consistent account look like?
A consistent account moves between tenses for a reason. A short story about a past trip might use the imparfait for the scene, the passé composé for each event, the présent for a comment about now and the futur proche for a plan.
The test is simple: for each verb, can you point to the time phrase or the meaning that justifies the tense?
A four-pass proofreading routine
- Find the verbs. Underline each one.
- Label them. Write P for passé composé, I for imparfait, N for now and F for future above each verb.
- Match to time words. Compare each label with hier, l’année dernière, demain, chaque jour and so on.
- Check the forms. For each P, look at the auxiliary (avoir or être) and the agreement. For each I, check the stem and ending. For each F, check the stem.
Worked example
Here is a student’s first draft about last summer.
L’été dernier, je vais à Marseille avec ma famille. Il fait très chaud et nous nageons chaque jour. Un jour, nous visitons un musée. Je suis très content. L’année prochaine, je suis retourné là-bas.
Pass 1 and 2, label the verbs.
| Verb | Label | Time phrase | Fits? |
|---|---|---|---|
| vais | N | L’été dernier | No, the trip is finished |
| fait | N | (scene of the trip) | No, background in the past |
| nageons | N | chaque jour | No, a past habit |
| visitons | N | Un jour | No, one finished event |
| suis | N | (feeling during the trip) | No, background in the past |
| suis retourné | P | L’année prochaine | No, the time phrase is future |
Pass 3, decide the right tense for each. The trip is finished, so the main frame is past. Scene and habit go to the imparfait. One-off events go to the passé composé. The last sentence looks ahead, so it needs a future form.
Pass 4, rewrite and check the forms.
L’été dernier, je suis allé à Marseille avec ma famille. Il faisait très chaud et nous nagions chaque jour. Un jour, nous avons visité un musée. J’étais très content. L’année prochaine, je retournerai là-bas.
Checks: aller takes être, so je suis allé.
Nous nageons gives the stem nag-, so nous nagions. Visiter takes avoir. Retourner is regular in the futur simple.
The mistake to watch for
Students who find one wrong tense sometimes convert everything to the same past tense.
Mistaken fix: L’été dernier, je suis allé à Marseille. Il a fait très chaud et nous avons nagé chaque jour. Un jour, nous avons visité un musée. J’ai été très content.
Every verb is now a passé composé. The scene, the habit and the feeling have lost their background role, and chaque jour clashes with a single completed action.
The correction is to ask the same question at each verb: is it an event or a scene? Keep the imparfait wherever the verb describes how things were or what used to happen.
Check yourself
1. Correct the tense: Hier, je mange avec mes amis et après nous allons au cinéma.
Show answer
Hier sets the frame as finished past, with two events in order: Hier, j’ai mangé avec mes amis, puis nous sommes allés au cinéma.
2. Spot and fix the error: Demain, il pleuvait, donc nous resterons chez nous.
Show answer
Demain is future, but pleuvait is imparfait. Correct: Demain, il va pleuvoir, donc nous resterons chez nous (or il pleuvra).
3. Fix one verb: Quand j’étais petit, j’habitais à Penang. Maintenant, j’ai habité à Kuala Lumpur.
Show answer
Maintenant means now, so the verb must be in the présent: Maintenant, j’habite à Kuala Lumpur.
Where this leads next
Put all four lessons to work in the integrated practice set, which mixes time phrases, events, scene-setting and future plans. For paragraph planning around these tenses, continue to developing an original written response.
Some students find that the labelling routine helps in practice but disappears under time pressure. In online one-to-one French tuition, a teacher can time a short account with you and work out which of the four passes to shorten first.