Learning French Tenses:

FUTURE TENSE

This learning guide is divided into different

parts with a quick summary after each topic.

1) WHAT IS FUTURE TENSE?

• In English

- Future Progressive Tense

• In French

2) USING THE FUTURE TENSE IN FRENCH

3) RULES ON HOW TO FORM THE FUTURE TENSE

• Rules for regular verbs with –er and –ir endings

• Rules for regular verbs with –re endings

• Rules for irregular verbs

WHAT IS FUTURE TENSE?

The future tense is a verb tense that we use it to talk about something that will happen in the future, or something that will be true.

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FUTURE TENSE IN ENGLISH

The future tense in English can be identified with the word 'will' or 'shall' that comes before the verb. It can also appear with its shortened form 'll.

Examples:

What will you do?

What shall we do?

I'll think of something.

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FUTURE PROGRESSIVE TENSE

English also has progressive forms of the future tense which is used to indicate something that will be happening in the future. It is formed by using 'will' or 'shall' together with 'be' and the present participle of the verb. Examples: What will you be doing then? I'll be running at the park. He will be asking her out on a date. The word 'going to' followed by a verb is used to say something that will happen in the near future. Examples: I am going to eat a sandwich. He is going to attend the meeting.

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FUTURE TENSE IN FRENCH

• French future tenses do not use an equivalent of the English word 'will' or 'shall' to indicate a future event. Instead, the ending of the verb is changed to make it into a one-word form of the future tense.

• Just like in English, the present tense can also be used to tell

something that hasn't happened yet. Example: Je prends le train de neuf heures. (I'm taking the nine o'clock train.) • French also uses an equivalent of the English 'going to' to talk about

something that will happen in the near future. For this, the verb aller (which means 'to go') followed by a verb is being used.

Example: Tu vas tomber si tu continues. (You're going to fall if you carry on.) Il va manquer le train. (He's going to miss the train.)

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USING FUTURE TENSE IN FRENCH

•In simple statements or informal speech, French

often uses the present tense to tell something that's going to happen in a close future. This happens by using the commonly used verb aller. (example: je vais revenir (I'm going to come back.)

•In formal language such as in journalism or in narration of factual events, the future tense is often used.

•It can also be used in making polite requests.

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•The French future tense is often used with these words:

• demain (tomorrow)

• ce soir (tonight)

• la semaine prochaine (next week)

• le mois prochain (next month)

• le week-end prochain (next weekend)

• l'année prochaine (next year)

• plus tard (later)

• bientôt (soon)

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RULES ON HOW TO FORM

THE FUTURE TENSE

•Most verbs in the future tense consist of this

format: the infinitive (or the regular form of the verb) + an ending similar to that of the present tense of avoir (have) – -ai,-as,-a,-ons,-ez,-ont.

•It is formed with a “future stem” which is basically similar to the infinitive, combined with an ending that is dependent on the subject.

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Some examples: donner (to give), finir (to finish), and attendre (to wait)

Pronoun Ending Add to “future stem” What it means

je (j') -ai je donnerai je finirai

j'atendrai

I will give I will finish I will wait

tu -as tu donneras tu finiras

tu attendras

you will give you will finish you will wait

il elle on

-a il/elle/on donnera il/elle/on finira

il/elle/on attendra

he/she/it/one will give he/she/it/ one will finish he/she/it/one will wait

nous -ons nous donnerons nous finirons

nous attendrons

we will give we will finish we will wait

vous -ez vous donnerez vous finirez

vous attendrez

you will give you will finish you will wait

ils elles

-ont ils/ elles donneront ils/ elles finiront

ils/ elles attendront

they will give they will finish they will waitje

Quick tip: je is shortened to j' when preceding a word that begins with a vowel, h, or the French word y.

Rules for regular verbs with –er and –ir endings

The simplest of the verbs, all you have to do is use the infinitive form and add the correct ending. Examples are such as the ones used above for donner and finir. Some changes in spelling for the future stem of regular -er verbs: •The consonant 'l' and 't' in those verbs which end in -eler and -eter gets doubled. For example: appeler becomes appeller, while jeter becomes jetter. The pronunciation of the first letter e also changes from 'uhr' to 'eh'. Exceptions are the words geler (to freeze), peler (to peel) and acheter (to buy). •For verbs that end in -yer, the y often becomes i when used in the future tense. For example: nettoyer (to clean) becomes nettoier.

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Rules for regular verbs with -re endings

For this kind of verbs, the formula is simple: remove the last letter e, and add the appropriate ending.

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Rules for irregular verbs Just like always, there are sets of words which simply refuse to follow the rules. These irregular verbs are, of course, also present in the French future tense. There are around more than twenty verbs with irregular future stems. But don't worry because no matter how irregular these verbs are, they still make use of the same endings. Here are some examples: The verb avoir becomes aurai, auras, aura, aurons, aurez, auront The verb être becomes serai, seras, sera, serons, serez, seront The verb faire becomes ferai, feras, fera, ferons, ferez, feront The verb aller becomes irai, iras, ira, irons, irez, iront

Quick Recap

1.In informal speech and simple statements, the present tense can be used to talk about a future event. 2.The verb aller (which means to go) can be used in sentences that talk about what will happen in the immediate future. This is similar to the English use of “going to” (e.g. I'm going to clean the room.) 3.For regular verbs ending in -er, -ir and, -re, the future stem is the same as the infinitive but the last -e in -re endings are removed. 4.The future tense endings are -ai, -as, -a, ons, ez, -ont and it is dependent on the subject.

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