The future tenses in FrenchIrregular stems in the simple future tense

Use the near future and the simple future tenses to talk about what will happen in the future. Find out how to form and use them and check your understanding with activities and a quiz.

Part ofFrenchGrammar

Irregular stems in the simple future tense

Some common verbs are irregular in the simple future. This means that the stems are irregular but the endings are the same as for regular verbs.

Useful irregular verbs in the simple future:

InfinitiveFuture stemExampleEnglish
avoir (to have)aur-j’auraiI’ll have
être (to be)ser-tu serasyou’ll be
faire (to do)fer-il ferahe’ll do
aller (to go)ir-elle irashe’ll go
devoir (to have to)devr-nous devronswe’ll have to
pouvoir (to be able to)pourr-vous pourrezyou’ll be able to
vouloir (to want to)voudr-ils voudrontthey’ll want to
voir (to see)verr-elles verrontthey’ll see
envoyer (to send)enverr-j’enverraiI’ll send
venir (to come)viendr-tu viendrasyou’ll come
Infinitiveavoir (to have)
Future stemaur-
Examplej’aurai
EnglishI’ll have
Infinitiveêtre (to be)
Future stemser-
Exampletu seras
Englishyou’ll be
Infinitivefaire (to do)
Future stemfer-
Exampleil fera
Englishhe’ll do
Infinitivealler (to go)
Future stemir-
Exampleelle ira
Englishshe’ll go
Infinitivedevoir (to have to)
Future stemdevr-
Examplenous devrons
Englishwe’ll have to
Infinitivepouvoir (to be able to)
Future stempourr-
Examplevous pourrez
Englishyou’ll be able to
Infinitivevouloir (to want to)
Future stemvoudr-
Exampleils voudront
Englishthey’ll want to
Infinitivevoir (to see)
Future stemverr-
Exampleelles verront
Englishthey’ll see
Infinitiveenvoyer (to send)
Future stemenverr-
Examplej’enverrai
EnglishI’ll send
Infinitivevenir (to come)
Future stemviendr-
Exampletu viendras
Englishyou’ll come

Question

Match the French sentences with their English translations.

1. Nous aurons peur.A. They’ll be able to speak French.
2. Ils pourront parler français.B. She’ll be an actor.
3. J’irai à l’université l’année prochaine.C. We’ll be scared.
4. Tu feras tes devoirs ?D. I’ll go to university next year.
5. Elle sera actrice.E. Will you do your homework?
1. Nous aurons peur.
A. They’ll be able to speak French.
2. Ils pourront parler français.
B. She’ll be an actor.
3. J’irai à l’université l’année prochaine.
C. We’ll be scared.
4. Tu feras tes devoirs ?
D. I’ll go to university next year.
5. Elle sera actrice.
E. Will you do your homework?

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The simple future tense

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