Learn about how to use the French future tense to make plans in the near future
Now Playing: Lesson Audio
Get a breakdown of the dialogue and translations instantly with the Premium line-by-line Audio. Sign up for your Free Lifetime Account Now and get 7 Days of Premium Access including this feature.
Get this lesson’s key vocab, their translations and pronunciations. Sign up for your Free Lifetime Account Now and get 7 Days of Premium Access including this feature.
Unlock Lesson Notes and Transcripts for every single lesson. Sign Up for a Free Lifetime Account and Get 7 Days of Premium Access.
| Introduction |
| Virginie: Bonjour! |
| Eric: Bonjour! Eric here. Five Places You Have To See in Paris. |
| Virginie: Hi, this is Virginie and I am here with Eric. |
| Eric: How are you, Virginie? |
| Virginie: I am good, thank you. How are you? |
| Eric: Great. |
| Virginie: So what are we going to see in this lesson? |
| Eric: Well, we are going to be looking at the futur proche, which is one of the future tenses in French. |
| Virginie: And we are going to also talk about the verb vouloir, to want. |
| Eric: So, it looks like Joe and the gang are returning from their outing and they want to talk about what’s going on in Paris for the next week. |
| Virginie: So the conversation is between Joe, Frank, and the manager Madame Bertrand. |
| Eric: C'est parti! Let’s have a listen. |
| Dialogue |
| Joe : Encore merci ! |
| Frank : Donc, Joe, qu'est-ce que tu fais cette semaine ? |
| Joe : Je ne sais pas encore. Lundi et mardi, je vais chez les amis de mes parents, donc j'ai mercredi, jeudi et vendredi. Je veux aller au Louvre. |
| Frank : Le Louvre, c'est super ! Tu vas aller au Centre Pompidou ? |
| Joe : Sûrement. Je veux vraiment y aller. |
| Frank : Et la Cité des Sciences ? |
| Joe : Peut-être, mais je ne sais pas. C'est un peu loin. |
| Franck : Et Montmartre ? |
| Joe : Sûrement pas. Je voudrais bien, mais je n'ai pas le temps. |
| Bertrand : Oh ! Et l'Institut du Monde Arabe ? |
| Joe : Qu'est-ce que c'est ? |
| Bertrand : C'est un musée sur la culture arabe dans le monde. |
| Eric: One more time, a little more slowly. |
| Virginie: Encore une fois, plus lentement. |
| Joe : Encore merci ! |
| Frank : Donc, Joe, qu'est-ce que tu fais cette semaine ? |
| Joe : Je ne sais pas encore. Lundi et mardi, je vais chez les amis de mes parents, donc j'ai mercredi, jeudi et vendredi. Je veux aller au Louvre. |
| Frank : Le Louvre, c'est super ! Tu vas aller au Centre Pompidou ? |
| Joe : Sûrement. Je veux vraiment y aller. |
| Frank : Et la Cité des Sciences ? |
| Joe : Peut-être, mais je ne sais pas. C'est un peu loin. |
| Franck : Et Montmartre ? |
| Joe : Sûrement pas. Je voudrais bien, mais je n'ai pas le temps. |
| Bertrand : Oh ! Et l'Institut du Monde Arabe ? |
| Joe : Qu'est-ce que c'est ? |
| Bertrand : C'est un musée sur la culture arabe dans le monde. |
| Eric: One more time, with the translation. |
| Virginie: Encore une fois, avec la traduction. |
| Joe : Encore merci ! |
| Eric: Thank you again! |
| Frank : Donc, Joe, qu'est-ce que tu fais cette semaine ? |
| Eric: So, Joe, what are you doing this week? |
| Joe : Je ne sais pas encore. Lundi et mardi, je vais chez les amis de mes parents, donc j'ai mercredi, jeudi et vendredi. Je veux aller au Louvre. |
| Eric: I don't know yet. On Monday and Tuesday, I'm going to my parents' friends, so I have Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. I want to go to the Louvre. |
| Frank : Le Louvre, c'est super ! Tu vas aller au Centre Pompidou ? |
| Eric: The Louvre is great! Will you go to the Pompidou Center? |
| Joe : Sûrement. Je veux vraiment y aller. |
| Eric: Probably. I really want to go. |
| Frank : Et la Cité des Sciences ? |
| Eric: What about the City of Science? |
| Joe : Peut-être, mais je ne sais pas. C'est un peu loin. |
| Eric: Maybe, but I don't know. It's a little far. |
| Franck : Et Montmartre ? |
| Eric: And Montmartre? |
| Joe : Sûrement pas. Je voudrais bien, mais je n'ai pas le temps. |
| Eric: Probably not. I would like to, but I don't have time. |
| Bertrand : Oh ! Et l'Institut du Monde Arabe ? |
| Eric: Oh! What about the Arabic World Institute? |
| Joe : Qu'est-ce que c'est ? |
| Eric: What is this? |
| Bertrand : C'est un musée sur la culture arabe dans le monde. |
| Eric: It's a museum about Arabic culture in the world. |
| Post Conversation Banter |
| Virginie: So, it looks like Joe is going to go to a lot of places this week, right, Eric? |
| Eric: Yeah. He has a very what we would call a planning chargé. |
| Virginie: Planning chargé, busy schedule for sure. Where is he going to go again, to the city of science? |
| Eric: Right and that’s one of the largest science museums in Europe, right? |
| Virginie: Yes it is. It’s in Paris obviously. It’s called La cité des sciences, and it’s in the 19th arrondissement. Eric, have you been to the city of science when you were in France? |
| Eric: I never made it there, but next time. |
| Virginie: It’s really interesting. They have all these… |
| Eric: Really? |
| Virginie: Yeah. It’s museum specialized in technique, science, and industry, and they have a lot of interesting exhibits. Last year, I saw an exhibit called Epidemic and it was about epidemics all over the world and how they spread and… |
| Eric: Wow, like the Bubonic plague or something? |
| Virginie: Yes exactly. It was really interesting and it’s very interactive. It’s really it’s great for children, too. |
| Eric: What about l'Institut du Monde Arabe? |
| Virginie: Yes, The Arab World Institute. That’s an interesting place too. It’s not very well known by the tourists, I think. |
| Eric: But it’s really interesting. I was there once. |
| Virginie: Oh, you have been there? |
| Eric: Yeah. They have – their architecture is really interesting because it’s sort of like a large modern building. They have sort of like the Arabic style prince on the - |
| Virginie: Yeah, on the walls. |
| Eric: Right. |
| Virginie: Yeah, you can see them from the outside. |
| Eric: It’s great. |
| Virginie: Yeah it’s like a melange of old and modern. |
| Eric: Exactly. It’s very cool. |
| Virginie: So l'Institut du Monde Arabe, the Arab World Institute was meant to educate the public about the Arab world cultural and spiritual values in France, which is very important because we have a strong Arab and Muslim community. |
| Eric: What about the Georges Pompidou Center? |
| Virginie: Oh, the Georges Pompidou Center is the Museum of Modern art. |
| Eric: Right, and it’s pretty amazing architecture as well. |
| Virginie: Yeah. Great architecture and they have a great programmation too, great exhibits and movies, too. |
| Eric: That’s a must see, I would say, if you are in Paris. |
| Virginie: Yes, definitely. |
| Eric: Okay, great. So let’s move on to little vocabulary. |
| Vocab List |
| Virginie: une semaine [natural native speed] |
| Eric: a week |
| Virginie: une semaine [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Virginie: une semaine [natural native speed] |
| Virginie: lundi [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Monday |
| Virginie: lundi [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Virginie: lundi [natural native speed] |
| Virginie: mardi [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Tuesday |
| Virginie: mardi [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Virginie: mardi [natural native speed] |
| Virginie: mercredi [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Wednesday |
| Virginie: mercredi [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Virginie: mercredi [natural native speed] |
| Virginie: jeudi [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Thursday |
| Virginie: jeudi [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Virginie: jeudi [natural native speed] |
| Virginie: vendredi [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Friday |
| Virginie: vendredi [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Virginie: vendredi [natural native speed] |
| Virginie: un(e) ami(e) [natural native speed] |
| Eric: a friend |
| Virginie: un(e) ami(e) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Virginie: un(e) ami(e) [natural native speed] |
| Virginie: les parents [natural native speed] |
| Eric: parents |
| Virginie: les parents [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Virginie: les parents [natural native speed] |
| Virginie: un jour [natural native speed] |
| Eric: a day |
| Virginie: un jour [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Virginie: un jour [natural native speed] |
| Virginie: vouloir [natural native speed] |
| Eric: to want |
| Virginie: vouloir [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Virginie: vouloir [natural native speed] |
| Virginie: chez [natural native speed] |
| Eric: at (someone's home) |
| Virginie: chez [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Virginie: chez [natural native speed] |
| Virginie: encore [natural native speed] |
| Eric: yet, again |
| Virginie: encore [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Virginie: encore [natural native speed] |
| Virginie: peut-être [natural native speed] |
| Eric: maybe |
| Virginie: peut-être [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Virginie: peut-être [natural native speed] |
| Virginie: sûrement [natural native speed] |
| Eric: probably, surely |
| Virginie: sûrement [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Virginie: sûrement [natural native speed] |
| Virginie: avoir le temps [natural native speed] |
| Eric: to have time |
| Virginie: avoir le temps [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Virginie: avoir le temps [natural native speed] |
| Vocab and Phrase Usage |
| Virginie: What are we going to see today as far as vocabulary, Eric? |
| Eric: Let's take a look at "sûrement" and "surement pas" |
| Virginie: In our dialogue, Joe answers "surement" when he’s asked if he's going to visit the Louvres. |
| Eric: Surement means "probably." |
| Virginie: And in a sentence, it will be placed after the verb, |
| Eric: the same way toujours, “always,” is placed after the verb as we say in a previous lesson. |
| Virginie: For example, "je suis surement malade." |
| Eric: I am probably sick. |
| Virginie: It’s right after the verb, right after "suis". Je suis surement malade." |
| Eric: Now, Joe also says "sûrement pas" at another point in the dialogue. |
| Virginie: Oh yes, that's when they ask him if he's going to the cite des sciences |
| Eric: Surement pas can have two meanings depending on the context. |
| Virginie: The first meaning, from our dialogue, is "probably not" |
| Eric: Pas, as you remember, means “not”. |
| Virginie: So sûrement pas means "probably not". And what is the other meaning, Eric? |
| Eric: It can also mean "certainly not" |
| Virginie: That’s different, people usually say "sûrement pas" when they want to say "are you crazy? certainly not!" |
| Eric: That’s a little more directly related to the English word “surely,” like “surely not”. But keep in mind that it can mean "probably not" too. Sûrement pas. Do you have an example, maybe, in mind? |
| Virginie: yes, what if I ask you, did you drink any alcohol for breakfast, Eric? |
| Eric: Alcohol for breakfast? Sûrement pas! |
| Virginie: "Certainly not!” No alcohol for breakfast, of course. Now, when Frank asks Joe whether he's going to Montmartre, not only does Joe say "sûrement pas, he also says "je n'ai pas le temps" |
| Eric: And that's "I don't have time." |
| Virginie: So the expression for "to have time" or “to have the time” in French is avoir le temps. The verb avoir "to have" is followed by "le temps", time. |
| Eric: Ok, very straightforward. |
| Virginie: If you want to say "I have time", you will say "j'ai le temps.” |
| Eric: And that's j'ai, which is “I have,” and then followed by "le temps", the time. |
| Virginie: And Joe uses this expression in the negative form. |
| Eric: Right, you can see the n’ and pas which are around the verb, which is "je n'ai pas le temps". |
| Virginie: Exactly, "je n'ai pas le temps". And remember the negative construction in French? Maybe we need a little review here. |
| Eric: Very simple, take the verb, just place the two words "ne" and "pas" around it, and the verb is negative. |
| Virginie: Now, let's try to say in a sentence, for example, I don't have time to work. |
| Eric: Je n'ai pas le temps de travailler. |
| Virginie: Exactly. Je n'ai pas le temps de travailler. It's je n'ai pas le temps, “I don’t have time,” then the preposition "de", and then your infinitive verb, here it’s "travailler". |
| Eric: Mais j'ai le temps de manger. |
| Virginie: What Eric said is - but I have time to eat. |
| Eric: So, do we have time for one last word? |
| Virginie: Bien sur. Of course. Let's have a quick look at "ami" |
| Eric: Right, so he says he's going to his parent's friends’ house. |
| Virginie: Rght. And he says - les amis de mes parents. |
| Eric: And that’s “friends” in the plural form. |
| Virginie: "les amis", that’s plural. A friend, one friend, is "un ami”... |
| Eric: That's masculine |
| Virginie: and une amie... |
| Eric: That's feminine, you’re gonna be adding an "e" at the end of the word. |
| Virginie: Yeah, even if you can’t hear it. For example, je vous presente Eric, un amie. |
| Eric: Or, je vous presente Virginie, une amie. And that means “I introduce you to a friend, Virginie (or, Eric).” |
| Eric: OK. So let's get into some grammar. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Virginie: The focus of this lesson is how to speak in the future. |
| Eric: And then we're gonna talk about how to say what you want. |
| Virginie: Let's start with the future. In French, there are 2 future tenses. |
| Eric: And we’re gonna look at the more simple one, which is the futur proche. |
| Virginie: The futur proche is to express a future event that is not too far from the present. |
| Eric: Something that’s gonna happen in a near future. |
| Virginie: Can we give an example, Eric? |
| Eric: Well, you can say, for example, je vais manger. I am going to eat. |
| Virginie: Right, je vais manger. So our future proche here is vais manger. |
| Eric: And this construction here, is take the verb aller, which is “to go”, and you’re gonna conjugate that verb, then you’re gonna add on the infinitive for the action you’re going to do in the future. |
| Virginie: Exactly. It’s literally, I go… |
| Eric: To eat. So in English it should be more common to “I’m going to eat”. |
| Virginie: How would I say, “I’m going to work”? |
| Eric: je vais travailler. |
| Virginie: So it’s je vail, the verb aller conjugated with je, and then the infinitive form of the verb, which is travailler. |
| Eric: So it’s je vais, then… |
| Virginie: travailler. |
| Eric: je vais travailler. |
| Virginie: Ok, that’s pretty easy. |
| Eric: So we did have an example in our dialogue as well, right? |
| Virginie: Yes, but it’s a little tricky, because we’re saying “I’m going to go”. |
| Eric: So we’re using aller twice. |
| Virginie: So it’s je vais aller. |
| Eric: Frank asked Joe, “Tu vas aller au centre pompidou?” |
| Virginie: So that’s “Are you going to go to the pompidou center?” |
| Eric: So let's take a look at the construction here. First, we have tu... |
| Virginie: And that’s "you" |
| Eric: And then, we have the future proche, which is vas aller. |
| Virginie: Vas here is the conjugated form of the verb “to go,” aller, with tu. |
| Eric: And then we have the infinitive added next, so it’s tu vas aller. |
| Virginie: That’s right, “you’re going to go”. And Joe’s answers, as we said previously… Je vais aller, I’m going to go. |
| Eric: So again, Joe is expressing that he’s doing this in a near future, je vais aller. I’m going to go this week, maybe next week, but not a year from now. Let’s take a look at the verb “to want”, which is... |
| Virginie: vouloir |
| Eric: Yes. Joe tells Frank that he wants to go to the Louvre. |
| Virginie: Right, he says "je veux aller au Louvre." |
| Eric: I want to go to the louvre. |
| Virginie: What Joe says is really simple. He says je veux "I want" |
| Eric: Yes, and then he’s adding the infinitive form of the verb, aller, which is the action he wants to do, he wants to go, right after je veux, so.. |
| Eric: Je veux aller. |
| Virginie: I want to go. |
| Eric: And finally, the destination. “je veux aller au Louvre." |
| Virginie: So again, it’s very easy, just conjugate the verb vouloir, to want, |
| Eric: and then you add what the action that you want to do. |
| Virginie: In the infinitive form. We’re gonna use the verb travailler as another example. |
| Eric: "je veux travailler," I want to work. |
| Virginie: Or “je veux manger,” |
| Eric: I want to eat. |
| Virginie: So the whole conjugation of vouloir will be in our lesson note for lesson #22. |
| Eric: Just know how to use vouloir with je is probably enough to get whatever you want from French people! |
| Virginie: Yes, especially if you want to escape from France. Now, you can say, je veux partir! I want to leave. |
| Eric: Why would anyone want to leave France? |
| Virginie: C'est vrai. It's true, Eric. |
Outro |
| Virginie: Ok, I think we're done for this lesson. |
| Eric: Thank you for listening! |
| Virginie: Thank you! Merci! Bye-bye! |
| Eric: Au revoir. |
| Virginie: Au revoir. |
Comments
Hide