Future Tense

The future tense is expressed very simply in English – "I will ….". In French it is a little more complicated – the formula is as follows:

Person/Subject + future root with future ending

Endings

je             ai                         For regular verbs the future root is the infinitive, to

tu             as                         which you add the future ending to go with the person

il/elle         a

nous         ons                     For irregular verbs the future root must be learned

vous         ez                        separately and may not look at all like the infinitive,

ils/elles     ont                     though you add the same endings.

e.g. Regular

je travaillerai

tu vendras (drop the "e" from the infinitive vendre)

il finira

nous écouterons

vous attendrez (drop the "e" from the infinitive attendre)

elles choisiront

Irregular

verb                       future root                             example

avoir                       aur                                         j’aurai

être                         ser                                         tu seras

aller                         ir                                            il ira

faire                         fer                                         nous ferons

vouloir                     voudr                                     vous voudrez

venir                         viendr                                   elles viendront

For other irregular future roots, see the list of common verbs.

Grammar links