Aller, Faire & the Near Future (futur proche)
Aller, Faire & the Near Future (futur proche)
aller ('to go') and faire ('to do/make') are two of the most-used verbs in French, and together they unlock a simple, extremely common way to talk about the near future — one that will feel remarkably familiar, since English builds its own 'going to' future the exact same way.
Grammar Comparison
Grammar Comparison
aller (to go) — irregular
je vais, tu vas, il/elle/on va, nous allons, vous allez, ils/elles vont
I go, you go, he/she goes, we go, you go, they go
aller is completely irregular and doesn't resemble its own infinitive in most forms — je vais, not je alle, similar to how English 'go' irregularly becomes 'went' in the past rather than 'goed'. It's essential both for talking about movement and, as below, for building the near future, so it's worth memorizing solidly before moving on.
faire (to do/make) — irregular
je fais, tu fais, il/elle/on fait, nous faisons, vous faites, ils/elles font
I do/make, you do/make, he/she does/makes, we do/make, you do/make, they do/make
faire is irregular throughout, and nous faisons has a genuinely odd pronunciation — the ai is said like a soft 'uh' (fuh-ZOHN), not like the ai in fais. faire shows up constantly in fixed expressions (faire du sport, faire la cuisine, faire attention), so its irregularity is worth the early investment.
futur proche: aller + infinitif = 'going to...' — a genuine structural match with English
Je vais manger. (I'm going to eat.) — Qu'est-ce que tu vas faire ? (What are you going to do?)
I'm going to eat. — What are you going to do?
Conjugate aller normally, then follow it directly with a second verb left in its infinitive form, and you get the near future — used constantly in spoken French for anything from the next five minutes to the next few years. This is one of the closest grammatical matches to English in this entire course: English also builds its 'going to' future from the verb 'to go' plus a second verb, exactly the way French does with aller. The one difference to watch for is that English inserts 'to' before the second verb (going TO eat), while French uses the bare infinitive with no linking word (vais manger, not vais à manger) — otherwise, the construction is a direct parallel.
Vocabulary
Vocabulary
| French | Pronunciation | English |
|---|---|---|
| je vais | zhuh vay | I go / I am going |
| tu vas | tu vah | you go |
| il/elle va | eel/el vah | he/she goes |
| nous allons | noo zah-LOHN | we go |
| ils vont | eel vohn | they go |
| je fais | zhuh fay | I do / make |
| nous faisons | noo fuh-ZOHN | we do / make |
| vous faites | voo fet | you (formal/pl.) do / make |
| je vais manger | zhuh vay mahn-ZHAY | I am going to eat |
| qu'est-ce que tu vas faire ? | kes-kuh tu vah fair | what are you going to do? |