Future and conditional — le futur et le conditionnel
Two related tenses that both use the same stem with different endings. Master one and you almost have the other.
Near future — aller + infinitive
Used for definite, near plans. Like English "going to":
- Je vais regarder la télé ce soir. — I'm going to watch TV tonight.
- Nous allons partir demain. — We're going to leave tomorrow.
Simple future — formation
For regular -er and -ir verbs, the stem = the infinitive. For -re verbs, drop the final -e before adding endings. Endings: -ai, -as, -a, -ons, -ez, -ont (= present of avoir, more or less).
| Verb | je form |
|---|---|
| parler | je parlerai |
| finir | je finirai |
| vendre | je vendrai |
Key irregular future stems (= same for conditional)
| Infinitive | Future stem |
|---|---|
| être | ser- |
| avoir | aur- |
| aller | ir- |
| faire | fer- |
| pouvoir | pourr- |
| vouloir | voudr- |
| savoir | saur- |
| voir | verr- |
| envoyer | enverr- |
| devoir | devr- |
| recevoir | recevr- |
| venir | viendr- |
| tenir | tiendr- |
| mourir | mourr- |
| courir | courr- |
| pleuvoir | il pleuvr- |
| valoir | il vaudr- |
| falloir | il faudr- |
Future endings in full (être)
| être | |
|---|---|
| je serai | nous serons |
| tu seras | vous serez |
| il/elle sera | ils/elles seront |
Conditional — same stem, different endings
Endings: -ais, -ais, -ait, -ions, -iez, -aient (= imperfect endings).
| être | |
|---|---|
| je serais | nous serions |
| tu serais | vous seriez |
| il/elle serait | ils/elles seraient |
When to use each
| Sentence type | French structure |
|---|---|
| Future plan / prediction | future tense |
| "Going to" plan | aller + infinitive |
| Polite request / would | conditional |
| If + present, … future | Si tu m'aides, je finirai vite. |
| If + imperfect, … conditional | Si j'avais le temps, je voyagerais. |
| If + pluperfect, … past conditional | Si j'avais étudié, j'aurais réussi. (HT) |
After quand, dès que, lorsque, aussitôt que (when)
When the action lies in the future, French uses the future tense even though English uses the present:
- Quand je serai grand, je serai médecin. — When I'm older, I'll be a doctor.
- Dès que tu arriveras, on dînera. — As soon as you arrive, we'll eat.
Model phrases
- L'année prochaine, je passerai le bac. — Next year I'll take my A-levels.
- Si je gagnais au loto, j'achèterais une grande maison près de la mer. — If I won the lottery, I'd buy a big house by the sea.
- Je voudrais un thé, s'il vous plaît. — I'd like a tea, please.
- Quand j'aurai dix-huit ans, je passerai mon permis. — When I'm 18, I'll take my driving test.
- Il faudrait qu'on parte tôt. — We'd need to leave early.
⚠Common mistakes
- Quand je serai grand, je suis médecin — wrong; future is needed in both halves.
- Using future stem with imperfect endings to mean conditional — fine — but mixing up base stems.
- Saying si je serais riche… — wrong; never use conditional after si: it's si j'étais riche, je serais riche.
- Forgetting that "going to" gives near future, while "will" usually maps to simple future.
- Using infinitive after je voudrais — that's correct: je voudrais aller. But je voudrais que triggers the subjunctive.
AI-generated · claude-opus-4-7 · v3-deep-french