Today feels like a big shift. After tackling the past tense, it’s time to focus on the future. And in many ways, the future tense feels like a promise—it’s about making plans, setting goals, and imagining what comes next. Learning how to talk about the future in French gives me the tools to express hopes and intentions, which is exciting. So, let’s dive into le futur simple.
The Basics of Le Futur Simple
In French, le futur simple is the most common way to talk about future events. It’s actually easier than I expected because, for the most part, the structure is quite regular.
To form the future tense, you take the infinitive of the verb and add the following endings:
- Je -ai
- Tu -as
- Il/Elle/On -a
- Nous -ons
- Vous -ez
- Ils/Elles -ont
For regular -er and -ir verbs, it’s as simple as keeping the infinitive and adding the endings. For -re verbs, just drop the final e before adding the endings. Here’s how it looks:
- Parler (to speak) → Je parlerai (I will speak)
- Finir (to finish) → Tu finiras (You will finish)
- Vendre (to sell) → Nous vendrons (We will sell)
Irregular Verbs in the Future Tense
Of course, French wouldn’t be French without some irregular verbs. These verbs have different stems, but the endings are still the same as the regular verbs. Here are a few common ones:
- Être (to be) → Je serai (I will be)
- Avoir (to have) → Tu auras (You will have)
- Aller (to go) → Il ira (He will go)
- Faire (to do/make) → Nous ferons (We will do/make)
- Voir (to see) → Ils verront (They will see)
These irregular stems are important to memorize because they pop up a lot, especially in everyday conversation.
Vocabulary for the Day:
- Demain (tomorrow)
- La semaine prochaine (next week)
- Le mois prochain (next month)
- Bientôt (soon)
- Un projet (a plan, a project)
- Un rêve (a dream)
- L’avenir (the future)
Talking About Plans and Intentions
Today, I practiced talking about future plans—simple things like what I’ll do tomorrow or what my plans are for the weekend. It felt empowering to be able to say something like:
“Demain, je vais aller au cinéma.”
(Tomorrow, I’m going to the cinema.)
Or even dream a little bigger:
“Un jour, je visiterai Paris.”
(One day, I will visit Paris.)
This kind of thinking in the future tense made me feel like I was truly looking ahead in French. I also tried making predictions, like:
“Il fera beau demain.”
(It will be nice weather tomorrow.)
Cultural Insight: The French and the Future
Interestingly, in everyday conversation, the French often use le futur proche (near future) to talk about immediate plans, which is formed with aller + infinitive, like in English (“I am going to…”). So, while le futur simple is useful for plans and intentions, I noticed that when talking about something happening soon, like tomorrow or next week, many people say:
“Je vais partir demain.”
(I am going to leave tomorrow.)
It’s a nice reminder that language is flexible, and people often choose the simplest or quickest way to communicate their thoughts.
Practice in Action: My Future Plans
To put everything into practice, I wrote down a few future goals, both realistic and ambitious:
“Dans un mois, je parlerai mieux le français.”
(In a month, I will speak better French.)
“Un jour, j’habiterai en France.”
(One day, I will live in France.)
“La semaine prochaine, je vais apprendre le subjonctif.”
(Next week, I am going to learn the subjunctive.)
It felt good to put those goals into words, as if I was manifesting them through French.
Common Mistakes:
- Mixing up future and conditional endings: In French, the endings for the future and conditional are similar, but the future uses -ai, -as, -a, -ons, -ez, -ont, while the conditional uses -ais, -ais, -ait, -ions, -iez, -aient.
- Forgetting irregular stems: It’s easy to forget the irregular stems for verbs like être or aller, so it’s important to drill those into memory.
- Overusing futur simple for near events: While futur simple is correct, using futur proche (near future) is more natural for things that will happen soon, like plans for the weekend.
Tomorrow, I’ll take on le conditionnel, so I can start expressing wishes, possibilities, and polite requests. À demain!
