French The Near Future

Use the near future and the simple future tenses to talk about what will happen in the future. The futur proche (near future) tense describes what is going to happen with certainty.

When one expresses that they “are going to do something,” they are talking in the near future tense. The near future tense literally means that something is going to happen soon. The formation of the near future tense is simple:

Subject + conjugated form of aller + the infinitive of the verb that describes the future action

Remember that the infinitive of a verb is just a verb in it’s unconjugated form. It translates to “to do something.”  Examples of infinitives are parler,  finir, attendre, être, faire, aller, etc… Review the Quizlet set in this module to learn the most common French verbs (infinitives).

Examples of the near future:

Je vais aller au parc à 16h.                             I am going to go to the park at 4 o’clock.

Tu vas choisir le restaurant ce soir.                You are going to choose the restaurant tonight.

Il va partir demain.                                         You are going to leave tomorrow.

Nous allons écouter de la musique.                We are going to listen to the music.

Vous allez vendre des légumes au marché.    You are going to sell some vegetables at the market. 

Ils vont rater le train!                                      They are going to miss the train!

There are two future tenses in French, the simple future and the near future (le futur proche). The futur proche is usually translated into English as going + infinitive (e.g., going to eat, going to drink, going to talk). The futur proche is characteristic of spoken French but may be used in informal writing. It is formed with the verb aller (to go) conjugated in the present tense followed by an infinitive.