The Future Tense (le futur simple)

(Higher tier) The futur simple is a Higher-tier structure in AQA GCSE French (8652). If you are sitting Foundation, you only need the near future (je vais manger) and voudrais, so you can skip this lesson.

The futur simple is the one-word future tense: it means "will do". Where the near future (je vais manger = I am going to eat) describes a plan, the futur simple states what will happen, and often sounds more formal or points further ahead.

• je mangerai = I will eat
• nous partirons = we will leave
• ils arriveront = they will arrive

The good news: the endings are identical for every verb in French. Once you know them, the only thing left to learn is the stem. For most verbs the stem is simply the infinitive.

Build the futur simple by adding these endings to the infinitive. For -re verbs, drop the final -e first (vendre → vendr-).

Subject	parler (to speak)	finir (to finish)	vendre (to sell)
je	parlerai	finirai	vendrai
tu	parleras	finiras	vendras
il/elle/on	parlera	finira	vendra
nous	parlerons	finirons	vendrons
vous	parlerez	finirez	vendrez
ils/elles	parleront	finiront	vendront

Notice the endings -ai, -as, -a, -ons, -ez, -ont — they look like the present tense of avoir (ai, as, a, avons, avez, ont), which is a handy memory hook.

Worked examples:

• Je finirai mes devoirs ce soir. — I will finish my homework tonight.
• Nous vendrons la maison l'année prochaine. — We will sell the house next year.

Every future stem ends in -r, and the ending is added straight onto it. That -r sound is the audible signal of the future: parle (present) vs parlera (future).

The endings never change, but many high-frequency verbs replace the infinitive with an irregular stem. Learn these as a set — they are exactly the verbs you will use most.

Verb	Future stem	je form (+ ending)	English
être (to be)	ser-	je serai	I will be
avoir (to have)	aur-	j'aurai	I will have
aller (to go)	ir-	j'irai	I will go
faire (to do)	fer-	je ferai	I will do
venir (to come)	viendr-	je viendrai	I will come
voir (to see)	verr-	je verrai	I will see
pouvoir (to be able)	pourr-	je pourrai	I will be able
devoir (to have to)	devr-	je devrai	I will have to
vouloir (to want)	voudr-	je voudrai	I will want
savoir (to know)	saur-	je saurai	I will know

Worked examples:

• J'irai en France cet été. — I will go to France this summer.
• Elle aura seize ans en juin. — She will be sixteen in June.
• Nous ferons de notre mieux. — We will do our best.

Two more you will meet as impersonal verbs: il faut → il faudra (it will be necessary) and il y a → il y aura (there will be). And envoyer → enverr- (j'enverrai = I will send).

This is the point examiners love to test. When a sentence about the future contains quand (when), French puts both verbs in the future — even though English keeps the first one in the present.

French	English (note the tense)
Quand j'aurai 18 ans, je voterai.	When I am 18, I will vote.
Quand tu arriveras, tu me téléphoneras.	When you arrive, you will phone me.
On sortira quand il fera beau.	We'll go out when the weather is nice.

English says "when I am 18"; French says quand j'aurai (literally "when I will have 18"), because the event is still in the future.

The same future-after-conjunction rule applies to lorsque (when), dès que and aussitôt que (as soon as): Dès que je finirai, je partirai — As soon as I finish, I will leave.

Both tenses talk about the future, and at GCSE either can often be correct. The difference is register and distance.

Feature	Near future (futur proche)	Futur simple
Form	aller (present) + infinitive	infinitive + -ai/-as/-a…
Example	je vais manger	je mangerai
Meaning	I am going to eat	I will eat
Feel	plans, near / certain, spoken	more formal, further off, written
Tier	Foundation and Higher	Higher tier only

Worked contrast:

• Ce soir, je vais regarder un film. — This evening I am going to watch a film. (immediate plan)
• Un jour, je voyagerai partout dans le monde. — One day I will travel all over the world. (distant, futur simple)

For a Higher-tier writing or speaking answer, using the futur simple correctly shows range. Slip one in — quand je quitterai l'école, je ferai un apprentissage — to lift your grade.

A few -er verbs that change their spelling in the present carry that change all the way through the future, because the stem is the whole infinitive. The change appears in every person, not just some.

Verb	Present (je)	Future stem	Future (je)	English
acheter (to buy)	j'achète	achèter-	j'achèterai	I will buy
se lever (to get up)	je me lève	lèver-	je me lèverai	I will get up
appeler (to call)	j'appelle	appeller-	j'appellerai	I will call
jeter (to throw)	je jette	jetter-	je jetterai	I will throw
employer (to use)	j'emploie	emploier-	j'emploierai	I will use

Worked examples:

• J'achèterai un cadeau pour ma mère. — I will buy a present for my mum.
• Nous nous lèverons tôt demain. — We will get up early tomorrow.

The accent or doubled letter runs through every form: j'achèterai, tu achèteras, nous achèterons — all with è. This is different from the present, where nous achetons has no accent.

1. Dropping the infinitive's -r

The stem always ends in -r. Write je parlerai, not je parlai (that dropped-r form is the passé simple, a different, out-of-spec tense). Keep the -r: the future is heard by that -r sound.

2. Forgetting to remove the -e from -re verbs

Vendre becomes je vendrai, not je vendrerai. Drop the final -e of -re infinitives before adding the ending.

3. Using the infinitive instead of the irregular stem

Building the stem from the infinitive gives wrong forms like j'allerai (aller) or j'êtrai (être). Aller uses ir- (j'irai) and être uses ser- (je serai). The irregular stems must be memorised.

4. Keeping the present after quand

Quand je serai grand is correct; quand je suis grand (for a future meaning) is not. After quand about the future, French uses the future: quand j'aurai le temps.

5. Confusing future -ai with conditional -ais

Je parlerai (I will speak) ends in -ai; je parlerais (I would speak) ends in -ais. One letter changes the meaning entirely, so check the ending carefully.