French Grammar

Regular verbs for the for the future tense from the

infinitive:

loger

je logerai

partir

on partira

prendre

nous prendrons

The future endings are the same for all verbs:

-ai, -as, -a, -ons, -ez, -ont

Some common irregular

verbs are:

aller j’

irai I’ll go

avoir j’

aurai I’ll have

etre je

serai I’ll be

faire je

ferai I’ll do/make

pouvoir je

pourrai I’ll be able to

Using prepositions with the

names of places

With towns use

a: Tu iras a Dakar.

If a town begins with le, e.g. Le Havre, use

au, as in au Havre

With countries, continents and the world

use the following:

masc. sing

au, au Senegal, au monde

fem. sing

en, en Allemagne, en Asie

plural

aux, aux Etats-Unis

Are most countries and continents which end in -e

masculine or feminine?

There is one exception to this rule:

le Mexique.

To help you remember, memorise a phrase e.g.

en Australie, au Portugal

When you want to say what you ‘would’ do or what ‘might’ or ‘could’ happen, use the

conditional

You have already been using this in the

following expressions:

je voudrais

I would like

j’aimerais mieux

I would prefer

on pourrait

one/we could

ce serait

it would be

il y aurait

there would be

The conditional is

easy to form

It is a mixture of the future tense (which forms the stem) and the

imperfect tense (which gies the endings).

Future tense

Conditional

je voudrai

I will like

je voudrais

I should like

tu pourras = you will be able to

tu pourrais = you would be able to/could

il/elle/on aura

he/she/one will have

il/elle/on aurait

he/she/one would have

nous irons

we will go

nous irions

we would go

vous ferez

you will do/make

vous feriez

you would do/make

ils/elles seront

they will be

ils/elles seraient

they would be

Apres avoir pris le train, elles…

After taking the train, they…

Apres etre arrivees sur l’ile, elles…

After they arrived on the island, they…

This form is called is called the

past infinitive.

It can only be used when

the subject is the same for both verbs (they took, they arrived).

It is similar to the perfect tense, with the same auxiliary verbs (avoir or etre)

and the same rules about the agreement of the past participle with etre.

Talking about the

future the present and the past

Le mois prochain (futur)

je visiterai le Maroc.

Maintenant je visite le Maroc. (present)

Il fait chaud.

J’ai visite le Maroc. (passe)

C’etait fantastique et j’ai achete beacoup de beaux souvenirs.

In this picture strip there is a verb in the future,

one in the present and the other are in the past.

Look for other examples of verbs in

different tenses in Sophie’s letter.

The future

Look for two different ways Sophie uses to talk about the future.

The present

Find two examples of verbs in the present tense.

The past

Find two different ways to say what happened (the perfect tense). Find one example of description in the past (using the imperfect tense).

Time clues

Find one expression which refers to the past and one which refers to the future.

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