Le futur / Future

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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 one 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 may 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].