The future tense is used to express an idea that will happen. It’s generally a little later in the future than the futur proche, but you shouldn’t have trouble with it because it’s used just like in English. An example in English:

  • I will do my homework on Sunday.

It is formed by taking the future stem (which we will get to in a moment) and adding the following endings:

  • je: -ai
  • tu: -as
  • il/elle/on: -a
  • nous: -ons
  • vous: -ez
  • ils/elles: -ont

Now, what’s the future stem? It is the part of the verb that tells you that it is in the future tense. It is just the infinitive of regular -er and -ir verbs. For regular -re verbs, it is the infinitive without the e on the end. Many other irregular verbs use their infinitive as a future stem, but there is also a plethera of irregular stems. Here are the most common irregular stems. You will notice that all future stems end in r.

  • aller (to go): ir-
  • avoir (to have): aur-
  • devoir (to have to, to owe): devr-
  • être (to be): ser-
  • faire (to do, to make): fer-
  • falloir (to be necessary): faudr-
  • mourir (to die): mourr-
  • pleuvoir (to rain): pleuvr-
  • pouvoir (to be able): pourr-
  • savoir (to know): saur-
  • valoir (to be worth): vaudr-
  • voir (to see): verr-
  • vouloir (to want): voudr-

Here is an example of a verb conjugated in the future tense:

être (to be)
je serai=I will be
tu seras=you will be
il/elle/on sera=he/she/one (we) will be
nous serons=we will be
vous serez=you will be
ils/elles seront=they will be

Here’s how it can be translated:

  • I/you/he/she/it/we/they will [verb].
  • I/you/he/she/it/we/they shall [verb].