Video:Learn French: What Is the Future Tense?

Transcript:Learn French: What Is the Future Tense?

Bonjour I’m Milo for About.com and today we are talking about the future tense.  These tips and more can be found on our French site.   

Conjugate French Verbs to Future Tense

In French, we use the future tense when we want to talk about the future or when we make plans. It’s easy to form, you just add future endings to the verb in the infinitive. The famous R french sound is characteristic of the future tense: 

• je parlerai I will speak
• tu parleras you will speak
• il/elle parlera he/she/it will speak
• nous parlerons we will speak
• vous parlerez you formal/plural will speak
• ils/elles parleront they will speak

French Verbs with E Endings in Future Tense

For the infinitives ending with a E, the E disappears in the future conjugation: The verb Boire, to drink, is formed by dropping the E and adding the endings directly to the root of the word:

• Tu boiras un jus d’orange pour le petit déjeuner. You’ll drink orange juice for breakfast. 

French Irregular Verbs in Future Tense

The endings are always the same, but as in almost every tense, the future has a few irregular verbs, with a very different radical or stem than the infinitive form: 

The verb être for example starts in Ser: 

• Je serai Professeur dans deux ans. I will be a professor in two years. 

Another irregular verb is the verb avoir formed in Aur:

•  Nous aurons une grande maison près de la plage. We’ll have a big house close to the beach. 

The verbs venir (to come), voir (to see) and faire (to do) are also irregular. 

• Elle viendra avec nous demain. She’ll come with us tomorrow.
• Nous verrons ce film la semaine prochaine. We’ll see this movie next week.
• Ils feront des projets de vacances dès que possible. They’ll make vacation plans as soon as possible.  

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