Basic future tense

Hi guys. This post is all about how to form the future tense (the immediate future) to say that you are going to do something. It's not too tricky so don't worry!

If you want to say: I am going to... then you need a basic stem. You can add anything you want afterwards which just depends on how wide your vocab is. e.g. I am going to play; i am going to eat; or I am going to sing.

The main stem is whichever person you want (in this case it's Je = I) + the correct form of the verb aller = to go. (this is an irregular verb by the way, so won't follow the pattern mentioned in my previous post) Here's the verb for you:

Je vais
Tu vas
Il / Elle / On va

Nous allons
Vous allez
Ils / Elles vont

So, if i wanted to say: I am going to eat:

Je vais manger (with the verb to eat being manger)

Here are some other examples:

Il va chanter (He is going to sing)
Nous allons jouer (we are going to play)

P.S notice how the main verb to play, to sing, to eat is left in the infinitive. You don't need to change it to match the patterns in the older posts because here you're not saying I play, you're saying I am going to play. And Jouer means to play.   :-)

Regular -re verbs

Hi guys! You'll be pleased to know that this is pretty much the last main regular type of verb you need to know. We'll look at the example of attendre, which means to wait.

J'attends
Tu attends
Il / Elle / on attend_ (the underscore represents nothing there)

Nous attendons
Vous attendez
Ils / Elles attendent (silent -ent again. It's just attend, but pronounce the d.)

You take the stem, which is attendre minus the last 2 letters, so attend, and add the relevant ending. With the il / elle / on form, you don't actually add anything on the end. You just use the stem of attend. Here's another example. Vendre, which means to sell.

Je vends
Tu vends 
Il / Elle / on vend_

Nous vendons
Vous vendez
Ils / Elles vendent

Regular -ir verbs

Hi everyone :) Just like with the -er verbs, I'm going to show you the basic pattern for -ir verbs. We'll look at the example of finir, which means to finish.

Je finis
Tu finis
Il / Elle / on finit

Nous finissons
Vous finissez
Ils / Elles finissent (pronounced finisse. silent -ent)

Just as with -er verbs, you take the main bit of the verb (the stem), which is finir minus the last 2 letters (so fin) and add on the different endings depending on which person you're using.

Here's how it applies ot another regular -ir verb. Choisir, which means to choose.

Je choisis
Tu choisis
Il / Elle / on choisit

Nous choisissons
Vous choisissez
Ils / Elles choisissent  (again a silent -ent. pronounced choisisse)

The stem here is choisir minus the last 2 letters, so chois. You then add on the relevant endings. And that's all you have to do :)

Regular -er verbs

Most verbs tend to fall in 3 categories. Regular -er, regular -ir or regular -re. The regular bit means that the way you form the verb is very similar for most verbs in that category. This posts just for -e verbs like manger. Manger means to eat.

Je mange     (I eat)
Tu manges     (You eat)
Il mange        (He eats)
Elle mange   (She eats)
On mange     (one/we eat)

Nous mangeons  (we eat)
Vous mangez       (you eat [plural])
Ils mangent           (they eat)
Elles mangent      (they eat, where everyone is feminine)

The bits that have been highlighted represent the common endings. Whichever -er verb you have, you take the stem of the verb (in this case it's mang which is basically manger without the -er. For any verb, just take off the -er and you'll have your main bit). You then add the highlighted endings to the main bit depending on who is doing the action. Here's another regular -er verb, aimer = to like.

J'aime
Tu aimes
Il / Elle / On aime  (these have been grouped because they have the same ending)

Nous aimons
Vous aimez
Ils / elles aiment

See the similarities. The endings are the same (the ones in bold), they've just been added to the different main bit (or stem). Just like with manger, I've taken the -er off aimer to form the stem or main bit of the verb aim, which you then add the endings to.