French Future Tense Made Simple

Just as in Italian, Spanish, English, and many other languages, the future tense in French is used to express concepts and actions that have not yet occurred. We therefore use it to refer to a time that has yet to come, relative to the moment we are speaking.

Example:

Nous partirons jeudi. → We will leave on Thursday.

Similarly, there are two forms of the future in French:

Simple Future (Futur Simple in French): This is the most common future tense and is used to express actions or events that will occur in the future, either generally or predicted . It is formed by adding the specific future verb endings to the infinitive verb.

Example:

L'important est que nous nous soutiendrons mutuellement → The important thing is that we will support each other.

• Future perfect: This corresponds to our future perfect, and is formed using the auxiliary verb "avoir" or "être" in the simple future followed by the past participle of the main verb. The future perfect is used to indicate an action that will have concluded before another future event. It refers to an action that will have been completed at a certain future time relative to another action yet to be completed.
  
  Example:
  
  Tu auras déjà eu trop d'occasions lorsque je serai de retour. → You will have already had too many opportunities by the time I get back.

In French, there's another type of future: the future perfect , which is formed using a special auxiliary verb. This type of future tense is used to talk about actions that will happen in the near future, often imminently. It is formed using the verb "aller" (to go) in the present tense followed by the infinitive of the main verb.

Example:

Demain, j'irai au cinéma avec mes amis. - Tomorrow I will go to the cinema with my friends.

In this example, would it be incorrect to use the simple future in French? Absolutely not, but given the imminence of the action being referred to (it will happen tomorrow), using the future perfect is the optimal choice, as it allows us to express precisely that imminence.

The future perfect in French is used to express a future action that will be completed before another event in the future. Just like the future perfect in the indicative mood in English, it works exactly the same way.

It is formed with the simple future tense of the auxiliary verb "avoir" or "être" followed by the past participle of the main verb.

Here are some cases where the future perfect is used:

1. Action completed before another in the future: To express an action that will be completed before another future event.
   
   Example: Quand j'aurai fini mes devoirs, je sortirai avec mes amis. → When I finish my homework, I'll go out with my friends.
2. Hypothesis about the future : To express an action that is thought to be completed before another future event, based on a hypothesis.
   
   Example: S'ils auront terminé leur réunion, ils nous rejoindront à la fête. → If they have finished their meeting, they will join us at the party.
3. Indirect questions or negations : Indirectly, to ask questions or negations regarding a future action completed before another future event.
   
   Example: Elle m'a demandé si je lirais son livre avant qu'elle ne revienne. → She asked me if I would read her book before she returned.
4. Expression of probability in the past : Ironically, the future perfect in French is also used to express an action that is believed to have already occurred before an event in the past. If you think about it, it's not that absurd, since we do the same thing in English too.
   
   Example: Il aura déjà mangé avant notre arrivée. → He will have already eaten before our arrival.

The future perfect is mainly used, therefore, to indicate an action completed in the future before another future event or to express probabilities regarding the past.

The future perfect in French, also known as "futur proche", is formed using the verb aller in the present tense followed by the infinitive of the main verb. It is used to talk about actions that will occur in the near future.

Here are some cases where the future perfect is used:

1. Imminent future action : To express actions that will happen very soon in the future.
   
   Example: Je vais partir. → I'm about to leave.
2. Future plans or intentions : To talk about plans or intentions for the future.
   
   Example: Nous allons déménager en été. → We plan to move in the summer.
3. Future relative clauses : To make suggestions or invite someone to do something in the future.
   
   Example: On va voir un film ce soir? → Shall we go see a movie this evening? Shall we watch a movie this evening?
4. Questions about the immediate future : To ask questions about actions that will happen very soon.
   
   Example: Tu vas venir à la fête? → Are you coming to the party?
5. Expression of certainty or probability : To express an action that is believed to happen in the near future.
   
   Example: Il va pleuvoir. → It will rain.

The future perfect is very common in spoken French and is used to indicate actions that will happen soon or are expected in the near future. It's a very common construction in everyday language. Therefore, we recommend that you don't underestimate its importance and study it at the same level as the other two types of future in French.

Now that we're familiar with the characteristics of the future tense in French, all that's left to do is examine its characteristic endings, so you can study and recognize them within a text, but also use them independently.

As we know, verbs in French are divided into different groups (conjugations), so even the endings of the simple future in French will have slightly different characteristics based on the group to which the verb itself belongs.

Here are the French future endings for regular verbs:

Verbs of the first group (-er) - Example: parler (to speak)

• Je parlerai
• Tu parleras
• Il/Elle parlera
• Nous parlerons
• Vous parlerez

• Ils/Elles parleront

  Verbs of the second group (-ir) - Example: finir (to finish)

• Je finirai
• Tu finiras
• Il/Elle finira
• Nous finirons
• Vous finirez

• Ils/Elles finiront

  Verbs of the third group (-re) - Example: vendre (to sell)

Note: Remove the final -e before adding the future endings.

• Je vendrai
• Tu vendras
• Il/Elle vendra
• Nous vendrons
• Vous vendrez
• Ils/Elles vendront

These are the French future endings for regular verbs. Remember that there are also irregular verbs that follow different patterns. Here are some examples of future endings for some common irregular verbs:

Common Irregular Verbs in the French Future Simple

Avoir (to have)

• J'aurai
• Tu auras
• Il/Elle/On aura
• Nous aurons
• Vous aurez

• Ils/Elles auront

  Être (to be)

• Je serai
• Tu seras
• Il/Elle/On sera
• Nous serons
• Vous serez

• Ils/Elles seront

  Faire (to do / to make)

• Je ferai
• Tu feras
• Il/Elle/On fera
• Nous ferons
• Vous ferez

• Ils/Elles feront

  Pouvoir (can / to be able to)

• Je pourrai
• Tu pourras
• Il/Elle/On pourra
• Nous pourrons
• Vous pourrez

• Ils/Elles pourront

  Vouloir (to want)

• Je voudrai
• Tu voudras
• Il/Elle/On voudra
• Nous voudrons
• Vous voudrez
• Ils/Elles voudront

We recommend carefully analyzing the irregular future tense forms in French and gradually memorizing them. This is because, as is often the case in languages, irregular verbs also include many of the most commonly used and common verbs in everyday speech.

As we've just seen, irregular verbs in French include the verbs avere (to have) and essere (to be), also used as auxiliaries for the future perfect tense in French, and volitional verbs such as volere (to want) and potere (to be). In short, these are all words you need every day to express even the most basic concepts.