How to talk about future events and actions

Qu'est-ce que vous allez faire ?
On continuera à grater.

A chatty way of talking about things that are going to happen soon is to use the verb aller: on va commencer, nous allons faire etc.

This is the equivalent of saying 'going to start, going to do.' (See La Randonnée for more details)

A more formal way and emphatic way of referring to future events is through a set of verb endings:

je commencerai, tu commenceras, il/elle/on commencera
nous commencerons, vous commencerez, ils/elles commenceront

This is the equivalent of 'will begin' in English.

The future tense of most verbs is formed by adding the endings highlighted above on to the infinitive:

travailler becomes je travaillerai.

But if the infinitive ends in -re, you drop the final 'e':

Dire becomes je dirai

There are a few irregular verbs such as je serai, (from être), nous aurons, (from avoir) and vous ferez, (from faire), but the endings are still the same.

A tip! The letter before the ending is always an 'r'.

Vous ferez mieux de venir nous aider.
You'll do better by coming to help us.
Ça ne sera jamais terminé dans huit jours.
That will never be finished in eight days.

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