Le futur simple corresponds to the will-future tense in English. We mostly use this tense to talk about future plans or intentions in French, as well as to make predictions about what may occur in the future. We conjugate the French future tense by adding the endings -ai, -as, -a, -ons, -ez and -ont to the infinitive of the verb.
We learned how to conjugate the near future tense. The near future expresses that one is going to do something. The futur simple is another tense that is used to express an action that will happen. The English example sentences below use the simple future tense:
I will drink this glass of wine.
One will not predict the future.
They will tell the truth in court.
How to Conjugate Regular Verbs in the Simple Future Tense
The simple future tense is rather easy to conjugate. In most cases, or with regular future verbs, you take the infinitive of your verb and add the following endings:
| Subject | Ending | Example | Meaning |
| Je | ai | Je regarderai | I will watch |
| Tu | as | Tu finiras | You will finish |
| Il/Elle/On | a | Il/Elle/On attendra* | He/She/One will wait |
| Nous | ons | Nous achèterons | We will buy |
| Vous | ez | Vous lirez | You will read |
| Ils/Elles | ont | Ils/Elles tomberont | They will fall |
*For regular -re verbs (attendre, entendre, suspendre… etc), the -e at the end is dropped before adding the future ending.
Irregular Future Verb Stems
Several verbs in French have a unique stem for the future tense. Below are the most common verb stems that are irregular. Study the meanings of these verbs and their irregular stems in the Quizlet set of this module.
Aller → ir
Avoir→ aur
Être → ser
Faire → fer
Vouloir → voudr
Pouvoir → pourr
Devoir → devr
Courir → courr
Mourir → mourr
Pleuvoir → pleuvr
Falloir → faudr
Recevoir → recevr
Savoir → saur
Tenir → tiendr
Venir → viendr
Voir → verr
Envoyer → enverr
Examples:
J’aurai une bonne soirée. → I will have a good night out.
Tu seras content demain. → You will be happy tomorrow.
Il faudra signer le document. → It will be necessary to sign the document.
Nous recevrons de bonnes nouvelles. → We will receive some good news.
Vous tiendrez la main de l’enfant. → You will hold the child’s hand.
Elles verront l’arc-en-ciel après la pluie. → They will see the rainbow after the rain.
The futur simple (simple future) describes what will happen for predictions and future projects. Form the simple future of regular -er and -ir verbs by taking the infinitive and adding the specific endings. The simple future of regular -re verbs is formed by removing the final -e from the infinitive and adding the endings above.