Introduction. This article focuses on the specificity of the tense category description of the French language in Jean Masset’s elementary grammar (1606). The article aims to examine the grammatical category of tense as one of the canonic categories that were ambiguously presented in the early descriptions of the French language. Purpose. The purpose of this article is to analyze the following aspects of the tense category description in the studied grammar: the specificity of the description of the French verb and its tense system, the reflection of the language norm and usage in the description of this category, the implementation of the exemplification princi-ple regarding this category. Materials and methods. Jean Masset’s French grammar (1606) acted as the research material. The choice of this grammar is due to its genre of an elementary textbook which requires more detailed consideration in studies on Historiography of Linguistics. The method of comprehensive study of the triad “sys-tem – norm − usage” was used as the key one in this research. The interpretive method aimed at the identifica-tion of the main ideas concerning the category of the French verb tense through the content of the source has been widely applied. Research results. As a result, the aspects of the language norm and usage regarding the tense category are of great importance in Masset’s grammar. The article shows that the grammar author followed the principles of analogy and linguistic relativity when describing this category. Conclusion. The principles of the tense category description in Masset’s grammar are due to its belonging to the genre of elementary text-books. The results of the research contribute to the study of the categorical level of description in French gram-mar textbooks at the turn of the XVI−XVII centuries.