Future tenses

Written by Qualified French Expert Aurélie Drouard HKH, Licence d'anglais LLCE

Last updated: 2016-05-30

Future tenses refer to future time. French future verb forms include le Futur Simple, le Futur Proche and le Futur Antérieur.

For example:

• Events that will take place in the future (le Futur Simple):
  • Quand elle ira à Londres, elle achètera une photo du Prince Harry.
    When she goes to London, she'll buy a photo of Prince Harry.
    
    
• Events that are going to happen in the near future (le Futur Proche):
  • Ils vont y aller. - They are going to go there.
    
    
• Actions that will have finished at some time in the future ('the past in the future' using le Futur Antérieur):
  • Elle aura fini ses devoirs avant de sortir.
    She will have finished her homework before going out.

(English has an additional future verb form: the Future Progressive.)
 

Future time can also be expressed with le Présent. For example:

• Demain, je pars pour Barcelone. - Tomorrow, I leave for Barcelona.
  
  
• On se voit demain, c'est sûr. - We'll see each other tomorrow for sure.

 
Related lesson: Tense