Your Timely Guide to the Future Tense in French

One way to express the future in French is to use aller (to go) with the infinitive (unconjugated form) of another verb. 

For example:

•   Je vais lire ce livre demain. (I am going to read this book tomorrow.)
•   Il va acheter un pantalon. (He is going to buy a pair of pants.)

This works well enough for actions in the near future, for things that are going to happen soon.

If you’re describing a few different future events, though — or you’re talking about the more distant future — you might not want to use aller with the main verb each time.

This is where le futur simple, the French future tense, will come to the rescue.

The formula for French future-tense conjugation involves two elements: Verb stem + verb ending.

The future verb stems for regular -ER, -IR, and -RE verbs follow a simple pattern. On the other hand, irregular verbs tend to have irregular future stems. (We’ll see some of these close up when we look at the future-tense conjugations for ten of the most common irregular verbs.)

Luckily, both regular and irregular verbs use the same endings for the future tense — so  you’ll only need to remember one set of future verb endings:

Person	Future Verb Ending	Example
je	-ai	je parlerai (I will speak)
tu	-as	tu verras (you [singular informal] will see)
il / elle / on	-a	elle finira (she will finish)
nous	-ons	nous entendrons (we will hear)
vous	-ez	vous ferez (you [formal/plural] will make / do)
ils / elles	-ont	ils iront (they will go)

You’ll find that the future verb endings look suspiciously like the present tense of the French verb avoir (to have) for the corresponding person. 

In fact, the endings are exactly the same as the present tense of avoir for everything but the nous and vous forms. For those, we drop the “av-” from avons (we have) and avez (you have) to get the endings -ons (for nous) and -ez (for vous).

The stem used for regular -ER verbs in the French future tense couldn’t be easier to identify: It’s identical to the infinitive, the base form that you’ll find in the dictionary. 

We’ll see how this works with two common -ER verbs, parler and regarder.

Parler (to speak) 

je	parlerai
tu	parleras
il / elle / on	parlera
nous	parlerons
vous	parlerez
ils / elles	parleront

Regarder (to look at, to watch)

je	regarderai
tu	regarderas
il / elle / on	regardera
nous	regarderons
vous	regarderez
ils / elles	regarderont

Par exemple (for example)

• Mireille marchera vers la plage. (Mireille will walk toward the beach.)

• Nous gagnerons un prix pour notre invention ! (We will win a prize for our invention!)

Vous commencerez vos études l’année prochaine. (You will start your studies next year.)

Regular -IR verbs in French follow the same pattern as the regular -ER verbs: You use the verb’s infinitive as its future stem, and then just add the avoir-based future verb endings.

Choisir (to choose)

je	choisirai
tu	choisiras
il / elle / on	choisira
nous	choisirons
vous	choisirez
ils / elles	choisiront

 

Finir (to finish)

je	finirai
tu	finiras
il / elle / on	finira
nous	finirons
vous	finirez
ils / elles	finiront

Par exemple (for example)

• Nous établirons les règles de ce jeu. (We will establish the rules of this game.)

• Il réagira après avoir appris tous les faits. (He will react after learning all the facts.)

Je réussirai à l’avenir. (I will succeed in the future.)

Now, we come to the third type of regular French verbs: -RE verbs.

Unlike -ER and -IR verbs, you’ll need to make a small change to the infinitive before you can use it as the future verb stem: Simply drop the -e from the end of the base form of the verb, then add the usual endings.

Here’s a handful of some of the most useful regular -RE verbs with their future-tense stems:

Infinitive (with English Definition)	Stem for Future Tense
vendre (to sell)	vendr-
rompre (to break)	rompr-
perdre (to lose)	perdr-
attendre (to wait)	attendr-
entendre (to hear)	entendr-
répondre (to answer; to respond)	répondr-

Let’s look at a couple of these verbs with their full future conjugations.

Entendre (to hear)

j’	entendrai
tu	entendras
il / elle / on	entendra
nous	entendrons
vous	entendrez
ils / elles	entendront

 

Répondre (to answer; to respond)

je	répondrai
tu	répondras
il / elle / on	répondra
nous	répondrons
vous	répondrez
ils / elles	répondront

Par exemple (for example)

• Je répondrai à son courriel demain. (I will respond to his email tomorrow.)

• • Annick vendra son premier roman cet été. (Annick will sell her first novel this summer.)

• Ils attendront à la bibliothèque. (They will wait in the library.)

Even though the future-tense stems for most of these verbs are irregular, they do double-duty in French: They’re the same stems used in the Conditional mood.  

Here are the future-tense conjugations for ten of the most common and useful irregular French verbs.

 

Être (to be)

je	serai
tu	seras
il / elle / on	sera
nous	serons
vous	serez
ils / elles	seront

If you know some Spanish, you might think of ser (to be) in that language, to help you remember that ser- is the future-tense stem of être (to be) in French. 

 

Avoir (to have)

j’	aurai
tu	auras
il / elle / on	aura
nous	aurons
vous	aurez
ils / elles	auront

 

Aller (to go)

j’	irai
tu	iras
il / elle / on	ira
nous	irons
vous	irez
ils / elles	iront

Once more, a knowledge of Spanish can come in handy here, since ir– (the future-tense stem of aller) is mirrored by ir, a verb that means “to go” in Spanish.

 

Faire (to make / to do)

je	ferai
tu	feras
il / elle / on	fera
nous	ferons
vous	ferez
ils / elles	feront

 

Venir (to come)

je	viendrai
tu	viendras
il / elle / on	viendra
nous	viendrons
vous	viendrez
ils / elles	viendront

 

Voir (to see)

je	verrai
tu	verras
il / elle / on	verra
nous	verrons
vous	verrez
ils / elles	verront

Yet again, the Romance language connection comes through with a similarity to Spanish: The Spanish verb ver (to see) is very much like verr-, the future-tense stem of the French verb voir (to see).

 

Prendre (to take)

je	prendrai
tu	prendras
il / elle / on	prendra
nous	prendrons
vous	prendrez
ils / elles	prendront

Even though prendre (to take) is irregular, its future-tense conjugation doesn’t deviate from a standard French -re verb. You just drop the final -e from the infinitive to get its future-tense stem and add the standard future-tense endings.

Related verbs like comprendre (to understand), apprendre (to learn), and reprendre (to take back) use the same pattern as prendre (to take).

 

Savoir (to know)

je	saurai
tu	sauras
il / elle / on	saura
nous	saurons
vous	saurez
ils / elles	sauront

 

Croire (to believe)

je	croirai
tu	croiras
il / elle / on	croira
nous	croirons
vous	croirez
ils / elles	croiront

The future-tense stem for croire (to believe) is fairly straightforward; you can find it by just discarding the -e from the end of the infinitive.

 

Pouvoir (to be able)

je	pourrai
tu	pourras
il / elle / on	pourra
nous	pourrons
vous	pourrez
ils / elles	pourront

The future-tense stem of pouvoir (to be able) ends in a double -r. This is similar to verr-, the future-tense stem of voir (to see). 

Par exemple (for example)

• • Nous verrons nos cousins pendant les vacances de Noël. (We will see our cousins during Christmas vacation.)

• Vous viendrez à la fin du mois d’août. (You will come at the end of August.)

Je serai capable d’utiliser parfaitement le futur en français. (I will be capable of using the future tense perfectly in French.)

There are several different ways to familiarize yourself with the French future tense. For best results, mix and match these activities.

Flashcards can be a handy way to practice French future-tense conjugations. Brainscape, StudyStack, and Anki are just a few of the virtual flashcard apps available. Use pre-made flashcard decks provided by other learners or build your own.

If you prefer old-fashioned flashcards, decks with binder clips prevent accidental card reshuffling and travel well. Multi-hued decks give you the option to color-code your verbs by categories such as regular -ER / -RE / -IR verbs or irregular verbs.

Add some pizzazz to your French future-tense studies with web-based games. Quiz site Quia has a Jeopardy!-like Future tense quiz, where you can test your knowledge of le futur with regular, irregular, and reflexive verbs. Jeopardy du futur simple has a similar setup; personal pronouns like je (I), il / elle / on (he / she / it), and nous (we) are used as the categories. Both of these are designed as two-person games, but they can easily be played solo.

Conjugemos serves up online fun for language learners with a variety of entertaining activities. As a hungry Gallic frog in Conjugemos’ “Día de los Verbos” game, you’ll select the flying piñata with the correct future-tense conjugation for a given French verb. You can either play a perpetual game with random verbs or select twelve or more verbs you’d like to focus on.

Whether you enjoy browsing French-language blogs, reading French news online, following French social media, or watching French videos on YouTube, you can look and listen for the French future tense in practically any kind of media.

Words and phrases like these can tip you off to the likely use of the French future tense:

• demain (tomorrow)
• prochain (next) + [time frame]
  • la semaine prochaine (next week)
  • le mois prochain (next month)
  • l’an prochain (next year)
  • la prochaine année (next year)
• dans une semaine (in a week’s time) 
• le mois suivant (the following month) 

The more you hear and see the French future tense in a variety of contexts, the more it will become second nature to you. Soon, you’ll recognize and understand verbs in le futur without consciously thinking about it.

Of course, you’ll want to be able to use these future-tense verbs fluidly when you speak and write in French. Frequent writing and speaking practice will cement them in your memory. 

One of the easiest ways to practice the French future tense in writing is to take present-tense sentences and convert the verbs to the future tense. You can start with simple stories in the present tense, like the Bitesize French collection from the BBC. 

As you become more confident, try writing original sentences in the French future tense. Online tools like BonPatron and Reverso can be used to check your future-tense conjugations. Bear in mind, though, that they will not be as accurate or nuanced as the native-speaker feedback available through a site like Journaly or LangCorrect. 

To practice talking about the future in French, look for conversation partners on sites such as Tandem or HelloTalk. You might try future-oriented conversation topics like vos projets pour les vacances (your vacation plans).

Even with some irregular future verb stems, the French future tense is no great mystery. With the same verb endings for both regular and irregular verbs, the French future is pleasingly predictable for all French speakers — not just Nostradamus!