The futur simple
expresses an action that will
take place. The
futur antérieur expresses
an action that will have
taken place before another
future action. The future
tense is used just like it
is in English, however, in
French, the future is always
used after quand or
lorsque (when), dès
que or aussitôt que
(as soon as) and tant
que (as long as.)
To form the future
tense, use the infinitive
and add these endings that
resemble those of avoir. However,
you drop the -e from -re verbs.
And of course,
there has to be exceptions.
Here are the irregular
stems for the future tense
(these will also be used in
the conditional tense):
Irregular
Stems
| aller |
ir- |
|
pleuvoir |
pleuvr- |
| avoir |
aur- |
|
pouvoir |
pourr- |
| courir |
courr- |
|
recevoir |
recevr- |
| devoir |
devr- |
|
savoir |
saur- |
| envoyer |
enverr- |
|
tenir |
tiendr- |
| être |
ser- |
|
valoir |
vaudr- |
| faire |
fer- |
|
venir |
viendr- |
| falloir |
faudr- |
|
voir |
verr- |
| mourir |
mourr- |
|
vouloir |
voudr- |
Other exceptions:
For appeler and jeter,
double the consonant. For
nettoyer and payer, change
the y to i. For acheter,
add an accent grave. For
préférer, the accents all
remain the same.
| jeter |
|
payer |
|
acheter |
|
préférer |
| jetterai |
jetterons |
|
paierai |
paierons |
|
achèterai |
achèterons |
|
préférai |
préférons |
| jetteras |
jetterez |
|
paieras |
paierez |
|
achèteras |
achèterez |
|
préféras |
préférez |
| jettera |
jetteront |
|
paiera |
paieront |
|
achètera |
achèteront |
|
préféra |
préféront |
To form the futur
antérieur, use the future
of either avoir or être (whichever
the main verb takes) and the
past participle of the main
verb.
Quand ils reviendront,
ils auront changé. When
they come back, they will
have changed.
Dès qu'ils seront revenus,
ils voudront repartir. As
soon as they have returned,
they will want to leave again.