French Futur Simple Tense
Are you ready to learn a new way to speak about the future in French? If you have been using the futur proche all the time, it’s time to add another useful future tense to your French vocabulary.
The futur simple is used to talk about future events, plans, predictions, and things that will happen. It is not difficult to form once you understand the endings and know which verbs have irregular stems.
In this lesson, you’ll learn how to form the French futur simple with regular verbs, recognize common irregular stems, and use this tense in complete sentences.
1. When to Use the French Futur Simple
The futur simple is used to describe actions and events that will take place in the future.
Here are some examples:
| French | English |
|---|---|
| Je partirai demain. | I will leave tomorrow. |
| Nous habiterons en France. | We will live in France. |
| Elle travaillera lundi. | She will work on Monday. |
| Vous apprendrez beaucoup de choses. | You will learn many things. |
| Ils arriveront bientôt. | They will arrive soon. |
You can also use the futur simple to make predictions or talk about what you think will happen.
| French | English |
|---|---|
| Il fera beau demain. | The weather will be nice tomorrow. |
| Tu réussiras ton examen. | You will pass your exam. |
| Ce film sera intéressant. | This movie will be interesting. |
2. How to Form the French Futur Simple
To form the futur simple with most regular verbs, keep the infinitive and add the future endings.
For verbs ending in -RE, remove the final E before adding the endings.
The future endings are:
| Subject | Ending |
|---|---|
| Je | -ai |
| Tu | -as |
| Il / Elle / On | -a |
| Nous | -ons |
| Vous | -ez |
| Ils / Elles | -ont |
Regular -ER Verbs
Let’s use PARLER as an example.
| French | English |
|---|---|
| Je parlerai | I will speak |
| Tu parleras | You will speak |
| Il / Elle / On parlera | He / She will speak |
| Nous parlerons | We will speak |
| Vous parlerez | You will speak |
| Ils / Elles parleront | They will speak |
Regular -IR Verbs
Let’s use FINIR as an example.
| French | English |
|---|---|
| Je finirai | I will finish |
| Tu finiras | You will finish |
| Il / Elle / On finira | He / She will finish |
| Nous finirons | We will finish |
| Vous finirez | You will finish |
| Ils / Elles finiront | They will finish |
Regular -RE Verbs
For regular verbs ending in -RE, remove the final E before adding the future endings.
Let’s use VENDRE as an example. The stem is vendr-.
| French | English |
|---|---|
| Je vendrai | I will sell |
| Tu vendras | You will sell |
| Il / Elle / On vendra | He / She will sell |
| Nous vendrons | We will sell |
| Vous vendrez | You will sell |
| Ils / Elles vendront | They will sell |
Remember: The future endings are the same for -ER, -IR, and -RE verbs. The only difference is that you remove the final E from -RE infinitives before adding the endings.
3. Common French Verbs with Irregular Future Stems
Some French verbs do not use their complete infinitive as the stem in the futur simple. Instead, they have irregular stems that you need to memorize.
The endings remain exactly the same as those used with regular verbs.
Here is a list of common verbs with irregular future stems.
| Infinitive | Future stem | Futur simple | English |
|---|---|---|---|
| aller | ir- | j’irai | I will go |
| avoir | aur- | j’aurai | I will have |
| courir | courr- | je courrai | I will run |
| devoir | devr- | je devrai | I will have to |
| envoyer | enverr- | j’enverrai | I will send |
| être | ser- | je serai | I will be |
| faire | fer- | je ferai | I will do / I will make |
| falloir | faudr- | il faudra | It will be necessary |
| mourir | mourr- | je mourrai | I will die |
| obtenir | obtiendr- | j’obtiendrai | I will obtain |
| pleuvoir | pleuvr- | il pleuvra | It will rain |
| pouvoir | pourr- | je pourrai | I will be able to |
| recevoir | recevr- | je recevrai | I will receive |
| savoir | saur- | je saurai | I will know |
| tenir | tiendr- | je tiendrai | I will hold |
| venir | viendr- | je viendrai | I will come |
| voir | verr- | je verrai | I will see |
| vouloir | voudr- | je voudrai | I will want |
A few important details:
- FALLOIR and PLEUVOIR are impersonal verbs. They are used with IL: il faudra and il pleuvra.
- The verbs VENIR and TENIR share a similar irregular stem pattern: viendr- and tiendr-.
- The verbs COURIR and MOURIR have two R’s in their future stems.
- The verbs POUVOIR, VOULOIR, and DEVOIR have the irregular stems pourr-, voudr-, and devr-.
4. Examples of the French Futur Simple
Now let’s look at some complete sentences using the futur simple.
| French | English |
|---|---|
| J’irai au marché demain. | I will go to the market tomorrow. |
| Tu auras beaucoup de travail. | You will have a lot of work. |
| Elle sera contente de te voir. | She will be happy to see you. |
| Nous ferons un gâteau. | We will make a cake. |
| Vous pourrez venir avec nous. | You will be able to come with us. |
| Ils voudront probablement rester. | They will probably want to stay. |
| Je verrai mes amis ce week-end. | I will see my friends this weekend. |
| Il faudra partir tôt. | It will be necessary to leave early. |
5. Futur Simple vs. Futur Proche
French has two commonly used ways to express the future: the futur proche and the futur simple.
The futur proche is formed with ALLER in the present tense followed by an infinitive.
ALLER (PRESENT) + INFINITIVE
The futur simple is formed by adding future endings to the infinitive or an irregular future stem.
| Futur proche | Futur simple | English |
|---|---|---|
| Je vais partir. | Je partirai. | I am going to leave. / I will leave. |
| Tu vas apprendre. | Tu apprendras. | You are going to learn. / You will learn. |
| Elle va travailler. | Elle travaillera. | She is going to work. / She will work. |
| Nous allons voyager. | Nous voyagerons. | We are going to travel. / We will travel. |
| Ils vont arriver. | Ils arriveront. | They are going to arrive. / They will arrive. |
Both tenses can describe future events. The futur proche often emphasizes an anticipated or planned action, while the futur simple is common for future events, predictions, and more formal statements.
You can learn more in my lesson on French Futur Proche.
6. Using the Futur Simple After SI
One important rule to remember is that French does not use the futur simple directly after SI when expressing a possible future condition.
Use the present tense after SI and the futur simple in the result clause.
The construction is:
SI + PRESENT TENSE, FUTUR SIMPLE
For example:
| French | English |
|---|---|
| Si j’ai le temps, je viendrai. | If I have time, I will come. |
| Si tu étudies, tu réussiras. | If you study, you will succeed. |
| Si nous partons tôt, nous arriverons à l’heure. | If we leave early, we will arrive on time. |
| S’il fait beau, nous irons à la plage. | If the weather is nice, we will go to the beach. |
Remember: Do not put the futur simple immediately after SI in this type of sentence.
Incorrect: Si j’aurai le temps, je viendrai.
Correct: Si j’ai le temps, je viendrai.
ASTUCE DE JENNIFER
The easiest way to learn the futur simple is to memorize the six future endings first:
-ai, -as, -a, -ons, -ez, -ont
Then practice forming the tense with regular -ER, -IR, and -RE verbs. Once you are comfortable with those, begin memorizing the irregular stems.
One more helpful tip: the irregular stems used in the futur simple are the same stems used in the present conditional. The endings are different, but learning the stems will help you with both tenses.
You can also review my lesson on French Present Conditional – Could, Should, Would.
French Futur Simple Video Lesson
