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The French near future or le futur proche
There are several ways to express future tense in French. One of the most commonly used is near future or futur proche.
It is used for things that are going to happen in a short period of time. And that's what you will be learning today.
What is the near future ?
The French near future is the equivalent of the English "to be going to". It is used for actions that will happen in an immediate or near future with high degree of certainty. For example something you are about to do, or going to do in a short period of time like in the next minutes, day, week, ...
Example:
Demain, je vais voir le docteur. => Tomorrow i am going to see the doctor.
Je ne vois pas; je vais prendre mes lunettes. => I can't see; I am going to take my glasses.
How to form the near future tense in French?
The near future is a compound tense. To build it, you need to know one of the basic verbs which is aller = to go in present tense. Below is how to conjugate the verb aller in present tense.
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Je vais
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Tu vas
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Il/elle/on va
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Nous allons
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Vous allez
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Ils/elles vont.
To make a sentence in near future, you use :
👉the verb aller ( in the present tense) + the action verb (in the infinitive).
Examples
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Je vais faire mes devoirs. => I am going to do my homework.
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Nous allons partir => We are going to leave.
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Ils vont manger une pizza => They are going to eat a pizza.
The negative of the futur proche
In case you want to build a negative sentence, you can use the negative words like ne ... pas / ne ... plus / ne jamais / ne rien, ...
In that case, the negation word must surround the verb aller.
Examples
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Je ne vais pas sortir aujourd’hui => i am not going to go out today.
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Je ne vais plus sortir => i am not going to Go out anymore.
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Je ne vais rien dire à ma sœur => i am not going to tell anything to my sister.
The near future with a reflexive verb
When the action verb is a reflexive verb, the reflexive pronoun is placed just before it.
Examples:
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Je vais me laver.
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Tu vas t'habiller.
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Nous allons nous coucher.
Practice your near future with exercises
Practice with online exercises to make sure you are able to use perfectly the near future in French. Here is my selection of great exercises you could do.
Le futur proche - mixed exercises
Our best recommendations
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Lingoda - Well structured lessons with a communicative approach
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Lingopie - Best for learning with TV
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