The French Indicative

The Indicative Mood in French

The indicatif(indicative) is a mode(mood) used to indicate a statement of fact or certainty. You can think of it as the "default" mood in French. It is, after all, the most commonly-used mood in French. When you first learn conjugations and simple sentences in French, they're mostly likely in the indicative! Here are some examples of the indicative mood in the present tense, which is known in French as the présent de l'indicatif(present indicative).

The indicative mood is also commonly used in questions. In this case, the speaker is asking for a statement of fact or certainty.

Tenses of the Indicative Mood in French

We've seen that the indicative can be used in the present tense, but it can also be used in various past and future tenses, such as the following:

Past

• passé composé (compound past)
• imparfait (imperfect)
• passé simple (past historic)
• plus-que-parfait (pluperfect)
• passé antérieur (past anterior)

Future

• futur (future)
• futur antérieur (future perfect)

Here are some examples of what the indicative looks like in these various tenses:

Tenses of the Indicative Mood in French

The Indicative vs. the Subjunctive

To better understand the indicative mood, we can compare it to another mood in French, such as the subjonctif(subjunctive). Whereas the indicative is used to indicate a statement of fact or certainty, the subjonctif is used to talk about wishes, desires, emotions, opinions, uncertainty, doubt, and possibility.

Let's explore the difference between the two moods by imagining we have a co-worker named Marion who’s always late to work. Today is a little different, and Marion arrives to work on time! Her boss says the following to Marion:

Here, her boss is stating a fact: Marion arrived to work on time! The verb être(to be) appears in the présent de l'indicatif.

Although Marion arrived to work on time that morning, her boss is a little worried she might be late to her meeting later in the day so she says the following to Marion:

Now her boss is expressing a desire for Marion to arrive to the meeting on time. (It isn't certain whether she'll do so or not!) The verb être is used in the vous form of the présent du subjonctif(present subjunctive): soyez.

Let's take a look at another example, this time involving doubt and a past tense. Let's imagine Sandrine planted daffodils in her garden for the first time this year. One day, she goes out to the garden and says the following:

In this example, Sandrine is stating a fact: the daffodils have started to bloom. The verb commencer(to start) appears in the passé composé.

Let's imagine a different situation where Sandrine hasn't checked the garden to see whether the daffodils have started to bloom or not. She might instead say the following:

In this situation, Sandrine expresses her doubt that the daffodils have started to bloom. Since she hasn't checked, she doesn't know whether this is true or not! Because of her doubt, the verb commencer appears in the passé du subjonctif(past subjunctive).

Exercise: Identify the Indicative Tenses in a Dialogue!

Here's a dialogue between two roommates, Lisa and Marie-Josée. Pay close attention to the verbs and try to identify which tense of the indicative is being used in each line. After you finish, check the answers below!