In view of the difficulties in choosing an appropriate tense form in French, this paper focuses on the relationships between verb and time to analyze the three temporal dimensions of French verb, i.e. temporal structure, temporal image, and temporal position. The conclusions are as follows:(1)choosing an appropriate tense form involves the composition of temporal meanings, whose effect resides in different temporal relations;(2)the three temporal dimensions present specificity, layered structure, and compositionality, all of which reflect the conception of time by human cognition;(3)the empirical analysis demonstrates the major differences among the forms of three past tenses in French and proves the regularities in the composition of temporal meanings. This study helps to understand French verb and contributes to the teaching and learning of French tenses.