French Verb Conjugation Tracker: Build It in Notion

French verbs are where most learners quietly lose ground. There are hundreds of them, several tenses each, and a long list of irregulars that refuse to follow any pattern. A conjugation tracker built in Notion solves the core problem: instead of vaguely "reviewing verbs," you drill the specific verbs and tenses you keep getting wrong. Here's how to build one from scratch.

What the tracker does

The tracker is a Notion database with one row per verb. Each row records how confident you are in that verb across the tenses that matter, so the database always knows your weakest spots. Build a couple of views on top and you get an automatic daily drill list — no deciding, just doing.

Step 1: Create the database

Make a new database called French Verbs and add these properties:

• Infinitive (Title) — e.g. prendre
• English (Text) — to take
• Group (Select) — -er, -ir, -re, irregular
• Auxiliary (Select) — avoir, être
• Frequency (Select) — Top 50, Top 100, Common, Rare

The Frequency field matters more than it looks. The top 100 French verbs cover a huge share of everyday speech, so tagging them lets you prioritize ruthlessly.

Step 2: Add per-tense confidence ratings

This is the heart of the tracker. For each tense you're learning, add a Number property (scale 1–5) for your confidence:

• Présent
• Passé composé
• Imparfait
• Futur simple
• Conditionnel
• Subjonctif

After you drill a verb, you update its ratings: 1 means "no idea," 5 means "automatic." These numbers are what drive every useful view later.

Step 3: Add a weakness formula

Now make Notion do the math. Add a Formula property called Weakness Score that averages your confidence across tenses — lower means weaker. A simple version:

(prop("Présent") + prop("Passé composé") + prop("Imparfait") +
 prop("Futur simple") + prop("Conditionnel") + prop("Subjonctif")) / 6

Sort ascending by this score and your weakest verbs rise to the top automatically. You never again have to guess what to practice.

If you want to weight by importance, multiply the gap from 5 by a frequency factor so a shaky top-50 verb outranks a shaky rare one. Even the simple average works well to start.

Step 4: Build the drill views

Views turn the data into a workflow.

Today's drill

A Table view sorted by Weakness Score ascending, limited to Frequency = Top 50 or Top 100. Open it each morning and drill the top five verbs. Because you update ratings as you go, tomorrow's list reshuffles to match your new reality.

By tense

A Board view grouped by Group (-er / -ir / -re / irregular). Use it when you want to focus on, say, all the irregular verbs in one session.

Mastered

A filtered view where Weakness Score is 4 or above. Watching this list grow is the progress bar self-study usually lacks — concrete proof you're getting better.

Step 5: Seed it without burning out

Don't enter 300 verbs on day one. Add the top 30 verbs you actually use, rate them honestly across the tenses you know, and start drilling. Add new verbs as you meet them in lessons or reading. A tracker grown from real usage stays relevant; one front-loaded with a dictionary gathers dust.

How to run a daily drill

The tracker is only half the system — the drill is the other half. A focused 10-minute routine:

1. Open Today's drill.
2. For each of the top five verbs, conjugate it out loud across the tenses you're learning. Out loud matters — it forces retrieval, not recognition.
3. Check yourself against a reliable conjugator.
4. Update the confidence ratings honestly. If you hesitated, it's not a 5.
5. Write one sentence using the verb in the tense you're weakest on.

That last step is the multiplier. Conjugation tables build forms; sentences build usage. Do both and the verb actually sticks.

Why honest ratings are everything

The tracker is only as good as your self-ratings. The temptation is to inflate them because a high score feels good. Resist it. A 5 should mean you produced the form instantly, with no hesitation, in a sentence. Anything slower is a 3 at best. The whole system depends on the database reflecting reality, because that's what decides tomorrow's drill.

Extending the tracker

Once the core works, you can add:

• A relation to a Grammar Rules database so each verb links to the agreement and auxiliary rules it follows.
• A Last drilled date plus a view filtered to verbs not drilled in the last week, for spaced repetition.
• An example-sentence field where you collect real sentences you've encountered using that verb.

Start simple, though. The minimum viable tracker — verbs, confidence ratings, a weakness formula, and a Today's drill view — is enough to change how you study. Build that this week and let it grow from there.