Using the French Future Tense

When youre starting to learn any language, you need to know how to use the future tense. Although it functions similarly in French as in English, some differences are worth considering.   Basic Future Tense in French The French future tense talks about upcoming events. While the French future tense has a full set of conjugations, the English equivalent is just the modal verb will  plus the main verb. For example: Jirai au magasin demain. / I will go to the store tomorrow.Ils mangeront dans lavion. / They will eat on the plane. Conditional Use The French future tense can also be used in si clauses, to express what will happen if a condition is met: Si jai le temps, je le ferai. / If I have time, I will do it.Je le ferai si jai le temps. / I will do it if I have time. French Vs. English There are some differences between the French and English future tenses. When the action of the verb after certain constructions will take place in the future, the future tense is used in French, whereas in English the present tense is used: Quand il arrivera, nous mangerons. / When he arrives, we will eat.Je vous tà ©là ©phonerai dà ¨s que je pourrai. / Ill call you as soon as I can. In journalism and other factual narration, the future is often used in French even though the events are in the past: Nà © en Martinique, Aimà © Cà ©saire à ©tudiera à   Paris et redà ©couvrira lAfrique. / Born in Martinique, Aimà © Cà ©saire studied in Paris and rediscovered Africa. In French, the future can also be used for polite orders and requests, in place of the vous form of the imperative: Vous fermerez la porte, sil vous plaà ®t. / Close the door, please. To express something that is going to occur very soon, you also can use the futur  proche  (near future tense). Irregular Verbs The future is  one of the simplest French tenses. There is only one set of endings for all verbs, and most of them—even many that are irregular in the present tense—use their infinitive as the root. French has only about two dozen  stem-changing  or irregular verbs that have irregular future stems but take the same endings. The exact same verbs are irregular in the  conditional  and use the same  stems. acheter  Ã‚  achà ¨ter-  Ã‚  Ã‚  similar verbs:  achever,  amener,  emmener, lever,  promeneracquà ©rir  Ã‚  acquerr-  Ã‚  Ã‚  similar verbs:  conquà ©rir, senquà ©rirappeler  Ã‚  appeller-  Ã‚  Ã‚  similar verbs:  Ãƒ ©peler, rappeler,  renouveleraller  Ã‚  ir-avoir  Ã‚  aur-courir  Ã‚  courr-  Ã‚  Ã‚  similar verbs:  concourir, discourir, parcourirdevoir  Ã‚  devr-envoyer  Ã‚  enverr-essayer  Ã‚  essaier-  Ã‚  Ã‚  similar verbs:  balayer,  effrayer, payeressuyer  Ã‚  essuier-  Ã‚  Ã‚  similar verbs:  appuyer, ennuyerà ªtre  Ã‚  ser-faire  Ã‚  fer-falloir  Ã‚  faudr-jeter  Ã‚  jetter-  Ã‚  Ã‚  similar verbs:  feuilleter,  hoqueter,  projeter,  rejeternettoyer  Ã‚  nettoier-  Ã‚  Ã‚  similar verbs:  employer,  noyer,  tutoyerpleuvoir  Ã‚  pleuvr-pouvoir  Ã‚  pourr-savoir  Ã‚  saur-tenir  Ã‚  tiendr-  Ã‚  Ã‚  similar verbs:  maintenir, obtenir, soutenirvaloir  Ã‚  vaudr-venir  Ã‚  vie ndr-  Ã‚  Ã‚  similar verbs:  devenir, parvenir, revenirvoir  Ã‚  verr-  Ã‚  Ã‚  similar verb:  revoirvouloir  Ã‚  voudr- French Future Conjugations To conjugate a verb ending in -er or -ir in the future tense, add the appropriate endings to the infinitive. For verbs ending in -re, remove the final -e and then add the future endings. For irregular verbs, add the endings to the irregular future stem. Here are the future conjugations for the regular verbs  parler  (to speak),  finir  (to finish), and  vendre  (to sell), and the irregular verb  aller  (to go):    Pronoun Future ending parler parler- finir finir- vendre vendr- aller ir- je -ai parlerai finirai vendrai irai tu -as parleras finiras vendras iras il -a parlera finira vendra ira nous -ons parlerons finirons vendrons irons vous -ez parlerez finirez vendrez irez ils -ont parleront finiront vendront iront