The Future tense – Le futur
Talking about events in the future
Le Futur - introduction
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1.
2.
3.
In French, as in English, there are three ways
to discuss the future
Using the present tense with an adverb of
time. e.g. ‘We meet tomorrow’
Saying what we are going to do in the
immediate future, for definite plans.
e.g. ‘We are going to meet.’
Saying what we will do in the future, even if
our plans are not definite.
e.g. ‘We will meet’
1. Present + adverb of time
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2.
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This is a form of the future used more in
French than in English.
You must have
a present tense verb
an adverb of time
We are playing football tomorrow
Nous jouons au football demain
He is going on holiday next Tuesday
Il part en vacances mardi prochain.
Practice
Can you translate the sentences on the
left?
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Je joue au tennis
demain.
Il parle à sa mère
lundi prochain
Elle est occupée la
semaine prochaine
I am staying at home
tomorrow
He is eating at yours
next Saturday
I am playing tennis
tomorrow
 He is speaking to his
mother on Monday
 She is busy next week
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Je reste chez moi
demain
 Il mange chez toi
samedi prochain
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2. The immediate future
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2.
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We use the immediate future to talk about
future plans that are definitely going to
happen
We can call this the ‘going to’ future
To form the going to future you need:
A subject
e.g. je
A part of the verb aller
e.g. vais
An infinitive
e.g. manger
We can find infinitives in the …
…DICTIONARY
The immediate future – 2
To use this tense you must know the verb
aller – to go off by heart!!
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Je
Tu
Il
Elle
Nous
Vous
Ils
Elles
vais
vas
va
va
allons
allez
vont
vont
The immediate future – practice
Can you translate the sentences into
English?
Je vais parler
Tu vas boire
Il va rester
Nous allons dormir
Vous allez rire
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Ils vont aller
 Elles vont jouer au
basket
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I am going to speak
You are going to drink
He is going to stay
We are going to sleep
You are going to
laugh
They are going to go
They are going to
play basketball
Practise -2
Can you translate into French?
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I am going to swim
You are going to win
He is going to leave
She is going to go out
We are going to lose
(perdre)
They (men) are going
to ask
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Je vais nager
Tu vas gagner
Il va partir
Elle va sortir
Nous allons perdre
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Ils vont demander
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Le futur – The Future tense
The third way to talk about the future
expresses what we will do in the future. It
is less definite.
 The tense is easy to form. It uses
infinitives of verbs and adds some special
endings
 There are, however, some important
exceptions!!
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Le futur – formation
For –er and –ir infinitives you need only
add the correct ending.
 For –re verbs you must take off the –e
and add the same endings onto the -r
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-er, -ir and –re verbs
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Je
Tu
Il/Elle/On
Nous
Vous
Ils/Elles
parler
parler
parler
parler
parler
parler
These sentences
translate as … will
speak
ai
as
a
ons
ez
ont
Exceptions to the rule!
Although the endings stay the same, you
need to learn different stems for some
useful verbs.
 There is no rule, they need simply to be
learned!
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Exceptions
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aller
avoir
être
faire
savoir
devoir
pouvoir
to
to
to
to
to
to
to
go
have
be
do
know
have to
be able to
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iraurserfersaurdevrpourr-
e.g.
e.g.
e.g.
e.g.
e.g.
e.g.
e.g.
J’irai
J’aurai
Je serai
Je ferai
Je saurai
Je devrai
Je pourrai
Practice – Translate the following
sentences
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Je sortirai
Tu choisiras
Il mangera
Elle jouera
Nous prendrons
Vous attendrez
Ils sauront
Elles feront
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I will go out
You will choose
He will eat
She will play
We will take
You will wait
They will know
They will do
Practice – 2 Translate the following
sentences
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I will win (gagner)
You will dance
He will finish
She will leave
We will drink
You will say
They (men) will be
They (women) will
have
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Je gagnerai
Tu danseras
Il finira
Elle partira
Nous boirons
Vous direz
Ils seront
Elles auront
The Future – Practice
Now try and translate the following
sentences.
Je joue au cricket
demain
 Il va aller en France
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Nous ferons nos
devoirs
 Vous mangerez des
frites?
 Ils vont rester chez
moi
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I am playing cricket
tomorrow
He is going to go to
France
We will do our
homework
Will you eat the
chips?
They are going to
stay at my house
Practice - continued
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I am going to drink
Are you (a friend)
swimming tomorrow?
She will play
We will like
They (men) are going
to go to town
Je vais boire
 Tu nages demain?
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Elle jouera
 Nous aimerons
 Ils vont aller en ville
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CONGRATULATIONS –
YOU CAN NOW TALK
ABOUT THE FUTURE
IN FRENCH!!
Le futur!
je
 tu
 lire
 fer
 vous
 ils
 ez
 finir

jouer
ont
ai
ir
il
parler
elle
choisir
manger
regarder
rester
ser
a
écouter
danser
travailler
as
boire
nous
aur
ons
elles
nager
porter
Just a small point!
The conditional which translates as ‘would’
can be formed very simply when you
know the future tense!
 Instead of adding the future endings, just
add the imperfect endings
 Je jouerais = I would play
 Il ferait = He would do
 Easy isn’t it!
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