Talking About Future Actions in French - Exercises

Practice conjugating verbs in the future simple tense

Lesson Transcript

Choose the best answer to complete the sentence. Ready?

J'(pause with a tap of the finger) à Paris la semaine prochaine.

irai

J'irai à Paris la semaine prochaine.

"I will go to Paris next week."

We use irai in this sentence because it's the first-person-singular future-tense form of the irregular verb aller "to go." The stem changes to ir-, and the standard ending -ai is added. So, j'irai means "I will go."

Choose the best answer to complete the sentence. Ready?

Je crois qu'il (pause with a tap of the finger) chaud.

fera

Je crois qu'il fera chaud.

"I think it will be hot."

We use fera in this sentence because it's the third-person singular future tense of the irregular verb faire "to do, to make." The stem changes to fer-, and we add the regular future tense ending -a, forming fera, meaning "he or it will do or make" or "it will be" in this weather context.

Choose the best answer to complete the sentence. Ready?

Ce (pause with a tap of the finger) prêt dans 30 minutes.

sera

Ce sera prêt dans 30 minutes.

"It will be ready in 30 minutes."

We use sera in this sentence because it's the third-person singular future tense of the irregular verb être, "to be." The irregular stem ser- is used, and the regular ending -a is added to form sera, meaning "it will be."

Unscramble the words to make a sentence.

Ready?

Je mangerai

Je mangerai une

Je mangerai une pizza

Je mangerai une pizza ce

Je mangerai une pizza ce soir.

"I will eat a pizza tonight."

Je mangerai une pizza ce soir.

Choose the best answer to complete the sentence. Ready?

Louis (prendront or prendra) le train à huit heures.

prendra

Louis prendra le train à huit heures.

"Louis will take the train at eight o'clock."

We use prendra in this sentence because it's the third-person singular future tense of the verb prendr, "to take." Since prendre is a regular -re verb, we remove the final -e from the infinitive and add the future tense ending -a for il, elle, on.

Choose the best answer to complete the sentence. Ready?

Nous (visiterons or visitera) le musée samedi.

visiterons

Nous visiterons le musée samedi.

"We will visit the museum on Saturday."

We use visiterons in this sentence because it's the first person plural future tense of the regular -er verb visiter "to visit." With regular -er verbs, we keep the full infinitive and add the future tense ending -ons for nous.

Let's translate some sentences into French.

Translate "Alice will buy a new book." into French.

Alice, the subject,

followed by

achètera, the future tense of the verb acheter, meaning "will buy,"

un nouveau livre, meaning "a new book"

We use achètera here because it's the third-person singular future tense of the verb acheter "to buy." Acheter is a regular -er verb, but with a stem change: the e in the root becomes è in the future tense for pronunciation.

Alice achètera un nouveau livre.

"Alice will buy a new book."

Translate "My friends will play soccer after school." into French.

mes amis, the subject, meaning "my friends,"

followed by

joueront, the future tense of the verb jouer, meaning "will play,"

au football, meaning "soccer," literally "to the football,"

followed by

après l'école, meaning "after school"

We use joueront here because it's the third-person plural future tense of the regular -er verb jouer "to play." For regular -er verbs, the entire infinitive is kept and the ending -ont is added for ils, elles.

Mes amis joueront au football après l'école.

"My friends will play soccer after school."

Translate "You will see this movie tomorrow." into French.

tu, the subject, meaning "you,"

followed by

verras, the future tense of the verb voir, meaning "will see,"

ce film, meaning "this movie,"

followed by

demain, meaning "tomorrow"

We use verras here because it's the second person singular future tense of the irregular verb voir "to see." Unlike regular verbs, voir does not keep its full infinitive. The future stem is verr-, and the ending -as is added for tu.

Tu verras ce film demain.

"You will see this movie tomorrow."

Listen to me as I speak. Which verb in the future tense do you hear in the sentence?

Je crois qu'il fera chaud.

Let's listen one more time.

Je crois qu'il fera chaud.

Did you hear, fera?

Fera, from the irregular verb faire "to do, make," is used here in the future simple tense.

It shows that the speaker is talking about something that will happen—in this case, the weather being hot.

How about...?

Je mangerai une pizza ce soir.

Let's listen one more time.

Je mangerai une pizza ce soir.

Did you hear, mangerai?

Mangerai is the future simple form of the regular -er verb manger "to eat."

It shows that the speaker is talking about a future action—eating a pizza tonight.

Next…

Nous visiterons le musée samedi.

One more time.

Nous visiterons le musée samedi.

Did you hear, visiterons?

Visiterons is the future simple form of the regular -er verb visiter "to visit," conjugated for nous.

It means the action will take place in the future—visiting the museum on Saturday.

And...

Mes amis joueront au football après l'école.

One more time.

Mes amis joueront au football après l'école.

Did you hear, joueront?

Joueront is the future simple form of the verb jouer "to play," conjugated for ils, elles.

It tells us that the friends will play soccer after school.

Thank you for watching.

Now you know how to talk about future actions in French.

...and now you can move on to the next lesson in the pathway.

Au revoir !

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