Look at these examples of Le Futur Proche dans le Passé, or how to say 'was/were going to' :
J'allais fermer la porte quand tu m'as appelé.
I was going to close the door when you called me.
Tu allais manquer ton avion, c'est pour ça que tu t'es dépêché.
You were going to miss your plane, that's why you rushed.
Elle allait appeler la police !
She was going to call the police!
Allions-nous y arriver ? Personne ne le savait.
Were we going to make it? No one knew.
Vous alliez vous rejoindre plus tard.
You were going to meet later.
Oh là là ! Qu'est-ce qu'ils allaient s'ennuyer !
My oh my! They were going to get so bored!
Note that to express 'I was going to + verb', you use l'Imparfait of the verb aller in French, followed by the infinitive.
ATTENTION:
Using Le Passé Composé would mean 'I went to do'!
e.g. Je suis allé faire mes devoirs. (I went to do my homework.)
See also the previous lesson Aller + infinitive = to be going to (Le Futur Proche)
Learn more about these related French grammar topics
Examples and resources
Allions-nous y arriver ? Personne ne le savait.
Were we going to make it? No one knew.
Tu allais manquer ton avion, c'est pour ça que tu t'es dépêché.
You were going to miss your plane, that's why you rushed.
Elle allait appeler la police !
She was going to call the police!
Oh là là ! Qu'est-ce qu'ils allaient s'ennuyer !
My oh my! They were going to get so bored!
J'allais fermer la porte quand tu m'as appelé.
I was going to close the door when you called me.
Vous alliez vous rejoindre plus tard.
You were going to meet later.
Q&A
Chris
Kwiziq community member
21/03/18
Ron
Kwiziq community member
19/09/17
No, in this case, «m'as appelé» is the correct syntax, the reason being that it is NOT a reflexive verb. Instead «m' = me» functions as a direct object pronoun, who were you going to call --> me.
If, on the other hand, you were telling someone your name, one would say Je m'appelle . . . or Il s'est appelé . . .--> he called himself. . . or more correctly «he is named».
It is very easy to confuse the use of direct object pronouns with the reflexive verbs; however, this is something that you will learn with time.
J'espère que ma réponse vous aidera.
Bonne chance et bonne continuation dans vos études en français, la langue de Molière et qui a été utilisé par le monde depuis l’époque d’Hugues Capet
Aurélie
Kwiziq language super star
9/08/17
We don't have a lesson on this yet, but here's an explanation :)
Qu'est-ce que or Comme can both be used to introduce exclamative sentences such as "How bored were they going to get!" or "How nice are you!":
Comme tu es gentil!
Qu'est-ce que tu es gentil!
Here's a link to a related lesson on how to express exclamations with "What a...!":
https://progress.lawlessfrench.com/revision/grammar/how-to-express-what-a-with-quel-quelle-quels-quelles
À bientôt !
Nicholas
Kwiziq community member
9/06/17
Ellen
Kwiziq community member
9/06/17
Chris
Kwiziq community member
13/06/17
Laura
Kwiziq language super star
19/09/16
Barbara
Kwiziq community member
21 March 2018
2 replies
Une phrase avec "Si/if" ... l'imparfait/le conditionnel
Stephane ...(allait) rater son rendez-vous s'il ne se dépêchait pas. Est-ce qu'on peut dire plus correctement -Stephane raterait son rendez-vous s'il ne se dépêchait pas? Est-ce que j'ai raison? Expliquez -le-moi, s'il vous plaît.
Chris
Kwiziq community member
21 March 2018
21/03/18
Your sentence is also correct but has a slightly different meaning.
Stephane was going to miss his meeting if he didn't hurry. -- Stephane allait rater son rendez-vous s'il ne se dépêchait pas
Stephane would missed his meeting if he didn't hurry. -- Stephane raterait son rendez-vous s'il ne se dépechait pas.
-- Chris (not a native speaker).
Chris
Kwiziq community member
21 March 2018
21/03/18
Sorry, I made a typo in the second example:
Stephane would miss his meeting, ....
-- Chris.