French future: projects and predictions with four verbs
You are comparing work plans and arranging to meet a friend at a café. Learn four ways to speak about the future in the first person. The simple future presents a situation as future; aller + infinitive often connects a plan or prediction with the present. The choice does not follow a fixed number of hours or days.
A short return to familiar time forms
J’ai travaillé hier means “I worked yesterday”: ai + travaillé reports a completed action. Je travaillais souvent à la maison means “I often worked at home”: travaillais describes the past habit. Hier is yesterday, souvent is often, and à la maison means at home.
Je vais travailler demain means “I’m going to work tomorrow”: vais + the infinitive travailler states a plan. Demain means tomorrow. With a destination, je vais au café means “I’m going to the café”; au combines à + le. Keep these familiar forms in mind while learning the new future forms.
J'ai travaillé hier.
Je travaillais souvent à la maison.
Je vais travailler demain.
Four familiar verbs and the places around them
Être means be, avoir have, aller go and travailler work. La maison is home; le café is the café; la clé is a key, and les clés means the keys. Listen to the cards, then hear the changed verb forms in the sentences below.
Comparing tomorrow and Saturday
Two friends arrange to meet at a café tomorrow and compare their work days. The second person can be there at noon; the first person also has work tomorrow, while the second works on Saturday. Là means there, à midi at noon, and samedi Saturday. Moi adds “as for me”: moi, je travaillerai samedi.
- A
Demain, j’irai au café.
- B
Je serai là à midi.
- A
Je vais travailler demain.
- B
Moi, je travaillerai samedi.
Four first-person forms for the future
For these examples, learn four pairs: être → je serai (I will be), avoir → j’aurai (I will have), aller → j’irai (I will go), travailler → je travaillerai (I will work). The ending here is -ai. Travailler keeps its infinitive before that ending; the other three use the stems ser-, aur- and ir-. Do not add vais before these simple-future forms. Je becomes j’ before aurai and irai.
Use serai for your future presence, aurai for what you will have, irai for your destination, and travaillerai for your work. J’aurai les clés ce soir means “I’ll have the keys tonight”; ce soir means tonight. These forms can state plans, assurances or predictions. They do not guarantee that a prediction will come true.
Je / J’ serai / aurai / irai / travaillerai complément
Je serai là à midi.
J'aurai les clés ce soir.
Demain, j’irai au café.
Demain, je travaillerai à la maison.
The situation matters more than the calendar
Je vais travailler demain can present a plan already connected to the present, for example when explaining what you have decided. Demain, je travaillerai à la maison presents tomorrow’s arrangement as future, for example when giving your schedule. Both forms can refer to tomorrow, and their uses overlap; neither sentence is wrong just because tomorrow is near.
L’année prochaine means next year. L’année prochaine, je travaillerai à Lyon gives a future work plan. A long-term plan can also use aller + infinitive. English “will” and “going to” are useful starting glosses, but they do not decide every French choice for you.
Je vais travailler demain.
Demain, je travaillerai à la maison.
L'année prochaine, je travaillerai à Lyon.
Say your own plans before checking
Use the simple future and the words already shown. Tell your friend about yourself: I will be there at noon; I will have the keys tonight; tomorrow I will go to the café; tomorrow I will work at home. Try each sentence before reading its answer below, in that order. Then listen and repeat.
Finally, explain your current work plan with Je vais travailler demain. Could the same day also be described with travaillerai? Yes: choose how you present the situation, rather than counting the days.
Je serai là à midi.
J'aurai les clés ce soir.
Demain, j’irai au café.
Demain, je travaillerai à la maison.
Keep four forms; recognize a few other stems
Keep je serai, j’aurai, j’irai and je travaillerai for your own speech. Compare je vais travailler when presenting a plan linked to now.
For reference only, other verbs have different future stems: faire (do) → fer-, pouvoir (be able to) → pour-, venir (come) → viendr-. In the final audio example, Je ferai les préparatifs cet après-midi means “I will do the preparations this afternoon”: préparatifs means preparations and cet après-midi means this afternoon. Recognize ferai; you do not need to produce these extra verbs or learn a full paradigm here.
Je ferai les préparatifs cet après-midi.