French Verbs – Future Tense – Regular Verbs

In this lesson we learn the future tense of regular French verbs.

When is the future tense used in French?

This one is straightforward! The future tense is used in French to convey that an action is to take place at a future time and corresponds to English forms such as “I will write,” “she will arrive,” “they will come” and so on.

How is the future tense formed in French?

To create the future tense in French, we add the following endings to the infinitive form of each verb, as follows:

Person	Ending
je	-ai
tu	–as
il	–a
elle	–a
nous	–ons
vous	–ez
ils	–ont
elles	–ont

What is the French future tense of regular -er verbs, e.g. jouer (‘to play’)?

French	English
je jouerai	I will play
tu joueras	you will play
il jouera	he will play
elle jouera	she will play
nous jouerons	we will play
vous jouerez	you will play
ils joueront	they will play
elles joueront	they will play

What is the French future tense of regular -ir verbs, e.g. finir (‘to finish’)?

French	English
je finirai	I will finish
tu finiras	you will finish
il finira	he will finish
elle finira	she will finish
nous finirons	we will finish
vous finirez	you will finish
ils finiront	they will finish
elles finiront	they will finish

What is the French future tense of regular -re verbs, e.g. attendre (‘to wait’; ‘to wait for’)?

Note that the ‘e’ is dropped from the end of the infinitive before the endings are applied, as follows:

French	English
j’attendrai	I will wait
tu attendras	you will wait
il attendra	he will wait
elle attendra	she will wait
nous attendrons	we will wait
vous attendrez	you will wait
ils attendront	they will wait
elles attendront	they will wait