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].
