
French Futur Proche in the Imperfect Tense
ALLER (IMPERFECT) + INFINITIVE
When referring to something that was going to happen soon after the present moment in the past, ALLER is conjugated in the imperfect tense. It corresponds to was (were) going to + infinitive in English.
Scroll down to watch a video lesson on this French grammar topic, and you can download a free PDF of the lesson guide in my private French Grammar Library.
| j’allais + infinitive | nous allions + infinitive |
| tu allais + infinitive | vous alliez + infinitive |
| il allait + infinitive elle allait + infinitive on allait + infinitive | ils allaient + infinitive elles allaient + infinitive |
Observe the following sentences written in the futur proche in the past.
👉 Mes amis allaient partir.
👉 My friends were going to leave.
👉 Est-ce que tu allais m’appeler ?
👉 Were you going to call me?
👉 Christine allait apprendre le russe.
👉 Christine was going to learn Russian.
👉 Vous alliez rater le train.
👉 You were going to miss the train.
👉 J’allais voir mon professeur.
👉 I was going to see my teacher.
👉 Les filles allaient commencer à faire le gâteau.
👉 The girls were going to start making the cake.
👉 Nous allions terminer nos devoirs.
👉 We were going to finish our homework.


