A2
The simple future
How the French simple future is formed, its irregular stems, and when it is preferred to aller plus infinitive.
The endings go straight onto the infinitive. They are the present tense of avoir, which makes them easy to remember.
| je parlerai | I will speak |
| tu parleras | |
| il / elle parlera | |
| nous parlerons | |
| vous parlerez | |
| ils / elles parleront |
Je partirai demain matin.
I will-leave tomorrow morning
I’ll leave tomorrow morning.
For -re verbs the final -e drops: vendre → je vendrai.
The irregular stems
They are irregular in stem only; the endings never change.
| être → je serai | |
| avoir → j’aurai | |
| aller → j’irai | |
| faire → je ferai | |
| venir → je viendrai | |
| voir → je verrai | |
| pouvoir → je pourrai | |
| vouloir → je voudrai |
Every one of these stems ends in -r, which is the sound that marks the future throughout.
Against aller + infinitive
Both are correct. Aller is more spoken and suits the near and the certain; the simple future is more written and suits the distant, the formal and the hypothetical. In conversation about tomorrow, je vais partir is what you will hear.
Un jour, j’irai au Japon.
one day, I-will-go to-the Japan
One day I’ll go to Japan.
After quand, French uses the future where English does not
This is the rule worth learning deliberately.
Quand j’arriverai, je t’appellerai.
when I-will-arrive, I you-will-call
When I arrive, I’ll call you.
Quand j’arrive, je t’appellerai.
Quand j’arriverai, je t’appellerai.
English keeps the present after when; French does not. The same applies to dès que and lorsque. After si, though, French uses the present exactly as English does — si j’ai le temps, je viendrai.