Bonjour bonjour ! In today’s lesson, I want us to get familiar with the French future tenses: futur proche and futur simple. I know having two more tenses to learn can sound intimidating, but don’t panic. As usual here on Learn To French, I will do my best to explain it the same way I explain it to my students.
French future tenses – Écouter
Futur proche
For example :
Je vais manger une glace. I am going to eat an ice cream.
ALLER (présent de l’indicatif):
Je vais
Tu vas
Il / elle va
Nous allons
Vous allez
Ils / elles vont
For negative sentences, you will follow the pattern:
Subject + ne + ALLER conjugated in the present tense + pas + infinitive verb
For example:
Je ne vais pas manger de glace. I am not going to eat ice cream.
Basically, for negation, “ne” will be placed before the verb ALLER and “pas”, after it.
For pronominal verbs, the pattern stays the same, but we need to include our pronoun in the sentence. That pronoun will be placed before the infinitive verb.
Je vais me lever. I am going to get up.
As you can see, futur proche is similar to the English “going to + verb”.
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Futur simple
For regular verbs, we form it by following this pattern:
Je | INFINITIF + | -ai |
Tu | INFINITIF + | -as |
Il / Elle / On | INFINITIF + | -a |
Nous | INFINITIF + | -ons |
Vous | INFINITIF + | -ez |
Ils / Elles | INFINITIF + | -ont |
Let’s take for example the verb MANGER:
Je mangerai
Tu mangeras
Il / elle mangera
Nous mangerons
Vous mangerez
Ils / elles mangeront
Verbs that end with the letter E, such as PRENDRE or METTRE, will simply drop that final E and add the same endings.
Je prendrai
Tu prendras
Il / elle prendra
Nous prendrons
Vous prendrez
Ils / elles prendront
Some irregular verbs
There are some irregular verbs that you need to remember, such as ÊTRE, AVOIR, ALLER, VENIR, FAIRE, POUVOIR…
Verbe | Conjugaison |
Être | Je serai Tu seras Il / elle sera Nous serons Vous serez Ils / elles seront |
Avoir | J’aurai Tu auras Il / elle aura Nous aurons Vous aurez Ils / elles auront |
Aller | J’irai Tu iras Il / elle ira Nous irons Vous irez Ils / elles iront |
Venir | Je viendrai Tu viendras Il / elle viendra Nous viendrons Vous viendrez Ils / elles viendront |
Faire | Je ferai Tu feras Il / elle fera Nous ferons Vous ferez Ils / elles feront |
Pouvoir | Je pourrai Il / elle pourra Nous pourrons Vous pourrez Ils / elles pourront |
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Differences between the French future tenses
Futur simple VS futur proche
Using futur simple and futur proche will depend on the context.
Futur proche is used when you want to express an action in the future, that is most like to happen immediately or in the near future. It seems a little more dynamic, so it is more used in spoken French. It also gives the impression that the event is going to happen for sure in the near future.
Je vais manger une pomme. I’m going to eat an apple.
Futur simple is used when you want to express an action that is still in the future, but less certain to happen. It gives an impression of distance. It’s also common to use futur simple to talk about things that will happen further into the future.
J’irai au Mexique. I will go to Mexico.
French future tenses – Conclusion
I hope you enjoyed this lesson on the French future tenses, make sure to check out my YouTube channel if you like this kind of content. Until then, je vous dis au revoir et à bientôt pour une nouvelle leçon sur Learn To French !
