French Future Tense

French has two future tenses. Both are correct, both are common, and the choice is a matter of register and distance more than grammar.

Futur proche: aller + infinitive

The everyday spoken future. Take the present tense of aller, follow it with the bare infinitive.

• Je vais partir demain. (I'm going to leave tomorrow.)
• Tu vas voir, c'est bien. (You'll see, it's good.)
• Nous allons manger au restaurant. (We're going to eat at a restaurant.)

Equivalent to English "going to": near future, planned action, conversational register.

Futur simple: one-word inflectional future

The default written future and the more formal spoken option. Form: infinitive + endings.

Endings (same for all three conjugation classes):

Parler (to speak):

• je parlerai, tu parleras, il parlera, nous parlerons, vous parlerez, ils parleront

Finir (to finish):

• je finirai, tu finiras, il finira, nous finirons, vous finirez, ils finiront

-re verbs drop the final -e before adding the endings:

• prendre -> prendr- -> je prendrai, tu prendras, il prendra, nous prendrons, vous prendrez, ils prendront

The endings are unmistakable - they're the present tense of avoir stripped of its initial a-: ai, as, a, ons, ez, ont.

The irregular stems

About a dozen verbs have a non-infinitive stem in the futur. The endings are the same; only the stem differs. Worth memorising as a block.

Once you know the stems, the endings carry everything.

When to use each

Futur proche is the spoken default for:

• Near future events: je vais partir dans cinq minutes
• Planned actions: on va se voir samedi
• Conversational predictions: il va pleuvoir
• Anything you'd say in English with "going to"

Futur simple is the choice for:

• Distant future or vague timing: un jour, j'irai en Australie
• Formal speech and writing: le president fera un discours demain
• Conditional structures: si tu viens, on mangera ensemble
• After quand, lorsque, des que, aussitot que when the action is future: quand j'aurai du temps, je t'appellerai

The overlap is enormous. In casual speech, je vais manger and je mangerai are interchangeable for most timing.

After 'quand' in the future

A French-specific rule: after quand (or lorsque, des que, aussitot que) referring to the future, French uses the futur, where English uses the present.

• Quand j'arriverai, je t'appellerai. (When I arrive, I'll call you.) - both future in French
• Des que tu seras pret, on partira. (As soon as you're ready, we'll leave.)

English says "when I arrive" (present); French says quand j'arriverai (future). Both clauses are future-marked.

Negation in the future

Standard ne... pas placement.

• Je ne vais pas partir. (I'm not going to leave.) - futur proche
• Je ne partirai pas. (I won't leave.) - futur simple

Worked examples

• Demain je vais aller au marche. (Tomorrow I'm going to the market.)
• L'annee prochaine, nous irons en Espagne. (Next year we'll go to Spain.)
• Tu vas voir, ce sera facile. (You'll see, it'll be easy.)
• Quand j'aurai vingt ans, j'habiterai a Paris. (When I'm twenty, I'll live in Paris.)
• Il fera beau demain. (The weather will be nice tomorrow.)
• Je te telephonerai des que je rentrerai. (I'll call you as soon as I get home.)

Common mistakes English speakers make

Using the present after quand referring to the future: quand je suis pret, je viens is wrong, it's quand je serai pret, je viendrai. Adding a future-marker word with the futur proche: je vais manger demain doesn't need a separate "will" - aller + infinitive already carries the future meaning. And inventing irregular stems where the verb is regular: prendrer, fairer are wrong - the stem for prendre is prendr-, for faire is fer-.

See also

• The conditional page uses the same irregular stems as the futur simple.
• The French grammar cheatsheet covers the wider A1-B1 foundation.
• The intermediate French grammar page covers the futur anterieur (compound future) and si-clauses.