Going somewhere and making plans in French: je vais, tu vas, on va

Level A1

Going somewhere and making plans in French: je vais, tu vas, on va

You are leaving home and talking to a friend about tomorrow. Use a form of aller with a place to say where you are going, or with an infinitive to say what you are going to do. Here you will practise je vais, tu vas and on va, with two destinations and two actions.

The words you need

Aller means go, parler means talk and travailler means work: these are infinitives, the forms that name the actions. In je travaille (I work) and tu travailles (you work), the verb changes; the final -s of travailles is silent. The same contrast appears in je parle / tu parles (I talk / you talk). Je means I; tu addresses one person you are on familiar terms with. Le café is the café, the place here, and la maison is home; demain means tomorrow. Listen to Je travaille à la maison (I work at home): keep à la maison as a useful group of words.

Where are you going?

Aller changes to je vais (I go / I'm going), tu vas (you go / you're going) and on va (we go / we're going). In this conversation, on includes the speaker and other people; it is a very common way of saying we in everyday speech, but it takes va, not allons. Listen to the three forms: vais sounds different from vas and va, and the final -s is silent.

With these destinations, à + le café becomes au café, whereas à la maison stays separate: Je vais au café / Je vais à la maison. French keeps à la in this expression even though English simply says go home. For a question to a friend, keep the word order and use question intonation: Tu vas à la maison ? (Are you going home?). Où asks where: Tu vas où ? means Where are you going?

je vais / tu vas / on va + au café / à la maison

What are you going to do?

Now put an infinitive after je vais, tu vas or on va: Je vais travailler demain means I'm going to work tomorrow; On va parler demain means We're going to talk tomorrow. In this construction, aller changes with the subject, while parler and travailler remain infinitives: say vais travailler, not vais travaille. Unlike English going to work, French has no word for to between vais and travailler.

This is the futur proche, used here for a future plan; it does not mean the action must happen immediately. Demain tells us when, and goes at the end in these examples. Compare Je vais au café, which names a destination, with Je vais travailler, which names an intended action: the second need not involve going anywhere. The question Tu vas travailler demain ? uses the same order with question intonation.

je vais / tu vas / on va + parler / travailler + demain

Recognize nous allons

Nous allons au café also means We are going to the café. When on means we, on va and nous allons can describe the same group and destination; nous allons is common in more formal speech and writing, and is also possible in conversation. Just recognize it here: use on va for the guided task, and leave the simple future for a later lesson.

A friend asks about now and tomorrow

A asks where B is going; B names the café. A then asks about work tomorrow, and B confirms the plan with a full sentence. Listen to the four lines, then take either part: où asks for a destination, while travailler names an action.

Your turn: a destination and a plan

Before reading the answers, tell a friend three things: you and your friend are going to the café; you are both going to talk tomorrow; you alone are going home. Use on for the first two and je for the last. Check and listen to the three sentences in that order. Then change only parler to travailler in the second sentence and say the new plan aloud. Keep the contrast: aller + a destination says where you go; aller + an infinitive expresses a plan here, and demain means tomorrow.

Practise this lesson

Next lessons