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French grammar - The future tense - le futur proche

The future tense - le futur proche

In French we can use the present tense to talk about the future especially if an adverb like bientôt ('soon') or plus tard ('later') are used.

Speech can more explicitly refer to the future by using the futur proche tense.

The futur proche expresses an immanent action in the near future.

-- The equivalent in English is 'to be going to (do something)'.

The futur proche is formed by conjugating the verb aller (to go) in the present tense and adding the infinitive of the future action.

We negate the futur proche by surrounding the auxiliary aller with ne..pas.

Examples:
Je vais manger.
I'm going to eat.
Il va aller à l'école.
He will go to school.
Elle va lui parler demain.
She will talk to him tomorrow.
Est-ce que tu vas te rendre chez toi bientôt ?
Are you (familiar) going home soon?
Ça, c'est le train qui va partir très bientôt.
That there is the train that is going to leave very soon.
Elles vont jouer au tennis avec leurs amies.
They (female) are going to play tennis with her friends.
Nous allons manger chez nos grands-parents.
We are going to eat at our grandparents.
Allez-vous faire du vélo ce week-end ?
Are you (formal) going cycling this weekend ?
Je vais essayer d'ajouter du sel à la glace.
I am going to try adding salt to the ice cream.

ajouter (verb) means 'to add'

Est-ce que tu vas partir pour les vacances ?
Are you (familiar) going on vacation?
Quand est-ce qu'elle va aller dans le Sud ?
When is she going down south?
Pourquoi est-ce-que vous allez manger sans eux ?
Why are you (formal) going to eat without them?
Avec qui vas-tu déjeuner ?
Who are you (familiar) going to have lunch with?
On va avoir besoin de faire le ménage aujourd'hui.
We are going to need to clean up today.
Il va y avoir beaucoup de bruit.
There's going to be a lot of noise.

Note the preposition y next to the verb avoir

Ça va aller.
It is going (to be) OK.

The future form of ça va.

On va faire quoi, demain ?
What are we going to do tomorrow?
Attention ! Vous allez tomber !
Attention! You (formal) will fall!
Je ne vais pas te téléphoner à midi.
I am not going to call you (familiar) at noon.
Nous n'allons pas encore manger.
We are not going to eat yet.
Je vais nager. Tu viens avec moi, Bette ?
I am going to swim. Are you (familiar) coming with me, Bette?

Mixing tenses like this is fine.