French/Grammar/Tenses/Future

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Usage of the Future

One uses the future tense when referring to an action, certain to occur, in the future. In a time ahead of now.

One may also use aller in the present tense in conjunction with aller or another verb in infinitive form, to refer to the future. However it is not the future tense.

For example,

Il va aller à l'école

Or

Je vais dormir

Holds generally the same meaning as,

Il ira à l'école

Or

Je dormirai

However, the former is not in the future tense. Also, the usage of "aller" generally signifies an action to occur in the very near future, where as future tense refers to any time in the future.

Formation of the Future

Future Stems

• For (regular and irregular) -er or -ir verbs, the infinitive is the future stem.
• For (regular and irregular) -re verbs, the infinitive minus the final e is the future stem.
• Exception: Verbs that are stem-changing in the present are stem-changing in the future also.
• Exception: Certain irregular verbs have irregular future stems. (Not all irregular verbs have irregular future stems).

Stem Changes (Infinitif)

Verb	Change From	Change To
-ler verbs	ler	ller
-ter verbs	ter	tter
-yer verbs	yer	ier
verbs with an e in the penultimate syllable	e in penultimate syllable	è
verbs with é in the penultimate syllable	é in penultimate syllable	è

Exceptions to the Rule (Irrégulier)

verb	future stem
aller	ir-
avoir	aur-
devoir	devr-
envoyer	enverr-
être	ser-
faire	fer-
pleuvoir	pleuvr-
pouvoir	pourr-
savoir	saur-
venir	viendr-
voir	verr-
vouloir	voudr-

Future Endings

• To conjugate in the future, add the appropriate ending to the future stem.

Subject	Ending
je	-ai
tu	-as
il/elle	-a
nous	-ons
vous	-ez
ils	-ont

To conjugate a verb in the futur simple, one takes the infinitive and appends the following, as according to the table:

Subject	Add Ending	Conjugated Verb
Je	-ai	réussirai
Tu	-as	réussiras
Il / Elle / On	-a	réussira
Nous	-ons	réussirons
Vous	-ez	réussirez
Ils / Elles	-ont	réussiront

Tenses and moods

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