Purpose

By the end of this lesson, you will be able to conjugate regular verbs in the futur simple and know when to prefer it over the near-future construction.

Lesson Explanation

The futur simple is formed using the entire infinitive as its stem (for -er and -ir verbs; -re verbs drop the final “-e”), with one shared set of endings across all verb groups: -ai, -as, -a, -ons, -ez, -ont. From parler: je parlerai, tu parleras, il parlera, nous parlerons, vous parlerez, ils parleront.

A small but genuinely important group of verbs has an irregular futur stem, though the endings stay the same: aller → j’irai (I will go), être → je serai (I will be), avoir → j’aurai (I will have), faire → je ferai (I will do/make), pouvoir → je pourrai (I will be able to).

As with Spanish’s ir + a and Italian’s andare + a from earlier-built Gabal courses, French has a near-future construction built on aller (Part 3, Lesson 1) plus an infinitive, and this construction genuinely dominates everyday spoken French for near-term plans: Je vais manger. (I’m going to eat.)

The futur simple is instead genuinely more common in writing, formal speech, and for predictions or promises further out in time: Le prochain siècle apportera de grands changements. (The next century will bring great changes — a distant, formal prediction, where the futur simple feels more natural than the near-future construction.)

Practice Questions