Learn how to use the future tense in French to say what will happen
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Jason: Remembering Childhood Dreams in France! C’est Jason. Jason here! |
| Ingrid: Bonjour à tous, Ingrid here! |
| Jason: In this lesson, you’re going to learn how use the future tense |
| Ingrid: Yes Jason, you will be able to say what will happen. |
| Jason: What can you tell us about our conversation? |
| Ingrid: Our dialog takes place at grandma’s house… She is asking her grandson if everything is ok at school. They are using informal French. |
| Jason: Okay, so let’s listen to the conversation! |
| DIALOGUE |
| 1st time: natural native speed: |
| [dans la maison de Mamie] |
| Joséphine: Ça se passe bien à l'école Julien? |
| Julien: Oui j'ai de bonnes notes surtout en mathématiques! |
| Joséphine: Félicitations! Et est-ce que tu sais quel métier tu veux faire plus tard? |
| Julien: Oui quand je serai grand, je serai médecin comme Papa! |
| (1 time slowly) |
| [dans la maison de Mamie] |
| Joséphine: Ça se passe bien à l'école Julien? |
| Julien: Oui j'ai de bonnes notes surtout en mathématiques! |
| Joséphine: Félicitations! Et est-ce que tu sais quel métier tu veux faire plus tard? |
| Julien: Oui quand je serai grand, je serai médecin comme Papa! |
| (1 time natural native speed with the translation) |
| [dans la maison de Mamie] / [in Grandma’s house] |
| Joséphine: Ça se passe bien à l'école Julien? |
| Is it going well at school Julien? |
| Julien: Oui j'ai de bonnes notes surtout en mathématiques! |
| Yes, I have good marks, especially in mathematics |
| Joséphine: Félicitations! Et est-ce que tu sais quel métier tu veux faire plus tard ? |
| Congratulations! And do you know what job you want to do? |
| Julien: Oui quand je serai grand, je serai médecin comme Papa! |
| Yes, when I grow up, I will be a doctor like Daddy. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Jason: Ingrid, do you know how old Julien from our dialogue is?? |
| Ingrid: He is 9 years old. He is in elementary school. |
| Jason: Are schools and classes the same in France? |
| Ingrid: Almost. From 3 years old to 18 years old there are 4 different schools. The first is called “école maternelle” and is not mandatory. |
| Jason: This is for very young kids. |
| Ingrid: Exactly. Actually, it really starts at 6 years old, when you enter elementary school, “l’école primaire”. It’s composed of 5 classes : le CP, le CE1, le CE2, le CM1 et le CM2. |
| Jason: Wow, such strange names…. |
| Ingrid: Yes, because they are acronyms. In the US for example, classes are named increasingly from 1st to 12th grade. In France, we count backwards from “Junior High School” which is “le collège”. It starts “la sixième”, it means the sixth even if it’s the first class of junior high school. |
| It ends with “la terminal”, literally “the last one”, the last class of high school |
| Jason: so the last one before “le bac” |
| Ingrid: The renowned « baccalauréat »—all French pupils have to take the “Bac” which is the surname of the baccalaureate. This is the most important exam as it is the one that allows pupils to go to University. |
| Jason: Thanks for your explanation. Names of French classes are really bizarre. |
| Ingrid: They sure are! |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Okay, so now, let's take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. |
| The first expression we shall see is: |
| Next: |
| Ça se passe [natural native speed] |
| Meaning “it is going” |
| Ça se passe [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Ça se passe [natural native speed] |
| École [natural native speed] |
| Meaning “school” |
| École [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| École [natural native speed] |
| Bonnes notes [natural native speed] |
| Meaning “good marks” |
| Bonnes notes [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Bonnes notes [natural native speed] |
| Surtout [natural native speed] |
| Meaning “especially” |
| Surtout [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Surtout [natural native speed] |
| Felicitations [natural native speed] |
| Meaning “congratulations” |
| Felicitations [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Felicitations [natural native speed] |
| Métier [natural native speed] |
| Meaning “job” |
| Métier [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Métier [natural native speed] |
| Médecin [natural native speed] |
| Meaning “doctor” |
| Médecin [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Médecin [natural native speed] |
| Comme [natural native speed] |
| Meaning “like or as” |
| Comme [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Comme [natural native speed] |
| Papa [natural native speed] |
| Meaning “daddy” |
| Papa [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Papa [natural native speed] |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| Let's have a closer look at the usage for some of the words and phrases in this lesson. |
| Jason: what’s the first expression today? |
| Ingrid: “ça se passe…” |
| Jason: and what does it means? |
| Ingrid: the verb “se passer” has plenty of meanings. Let’s see how it is used in the dialog. “ça se passe bien”. It can be a question or an answer and it means “it is or is it going well”. |
| You can also ask or answer “ça se passe mal”, “it is going wrong”. The formal question is “comment ça se passe?” that is to say “How is it going?” |
| Jason: Is it formal? |
| Ingrid: No, informal. Usually you say this expression with friends or family, when you want to have some news or to show you pay attention to them. |
| Jason: Do you have an example please? |
| Ingrid: Bonjour Sonia, comment vas-tu ? ça se passe bien au travail? |
| "Hello Sonia, how are you? Is it going well at work?" |
| Jason: Ok. What is the next expression? |
| Ingrid: Let’s have a little look at these words: “un métier” |
| Jason: This means job, right? |
| Ingrid: Yes, but there are lots of synonyms and each one has a special nuance. Let’s see the three main nuances. |
| So first, “un job” |
| Jason: You also say "job" in French? |
| Ingrid: Yes, we do. But it is often used to name the student’s job, part-timed and without qualifications needed. |
| “un métier” is used for manual jobs, or jobs which required an apprenticeship. |
| The most common and neutral word nowadays is “une profession”. |
| Jason: So if I meet someone for the first time, if I want to know what his job is, it is better to use “profession,” is that right? |
| Ingrid: Yes. With this word, it is formal so appropriate for every situation, and you’re sure the person will take no offence. |
| By the way the question to ask is: “Quelle est votre profession?” |
| Jason: Ok and what is the next expression? |
| Ingrid: The names and nicknames of the family’s members. What do you call your parents Jason ? |
| Jason: Mom and Dad |
| Ingrid: In French, it is « la mère » and « maman » for your mother. “Le père” and “papa” for your father. |
| Jason: In the dialog it was a grandmother. How do you say that? |
| Ingrid: it is « une grand-mère » and « mamie » for your grand-mother. “Le grand-père” and “papi” for your grand-father. |
| Jason: And I forget the French for daughter and son… |
| Ingrid: A daughter is une « fille », a son is un « fils ». whereas in English you add « grand » as in grandson, in French, we add “petit” : |
| Un petit-fils, une petite-fille. |
| Jason: Thank you Ingrid, let’s see the grammar |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Jason: So this lesson’s grammar point is the future tense. |
| Ingrid: Yes, you’ll soon know how to use it! |
| Jason: How do you do it in French? |
| Ingrid: It’s a bit more difficult than in English where you just add “will + the verb”. |
| In French, it is not compound but in one word. |
| “Le futur” is made of: infinitive form + endings of the verb “avoir” in the present tense |
| Can you conjugate the verb avoir in present tense please? |
| Jason: j’ai tu as il a nous avons vous avez ils ont |
| Ingrid: bravo! Let’s take the verb “manger” as an example. Remember the pattern: to say “I will eat” you keep the infinitive form and you add the endings of Avoir: |
| Je MANGER+ AI = je MANGERAI |
| Can you continue ? |
| Jason: Tu mangerAS il/elle/on mangerA nous mangerONS |
| Vous mangerEZ ils/elles mangerONT |
| Ingrid: Great. An other example with “dormir“ / “To sleep” |
| Je dormirai nous dormirons |
| Tu dormiras vous dormirez |
| il/elle/on dormira ils/elles dormiront |
| Jason: Is it always working like this? |
| Ingrid: almost…. As always in French there are some exceptions. Some verbs don’t keep their infinitive form. You have to learn them by heart. They are around ten. |
| With “Pouvoir” for example, you don’t say : “je pouvoirai” but “je pourrai”. The radical change |
| With “Voir”, for example, you don’t say : “tu voiras” but “tu verras”. The radical change |
| With “faire”, for example, you don’t say : “nous fairons” but “nous ferons”. The radical change |
| Jason: When do you use the future in French ? |
| Ingrid: You must use “le futur” when you talk about things that haven’t happened yet. But don’t use it if it is not a fact because French uses another tense to talk about hypotheses in the future. |
| Jason: Yes, and this will be in the next lesson. |
| Ingrid: of course…but for the future tense you also have to be careful of all the verbs in your sentence. In the dialogue, the kid says "when I grow up, I will be a doctor”. |
| That kind of sentence: “When I bla bla…, I will bla bla”, in French has all the verbs in the future tense, as if in English you would say when I will bla bla, I will bla bla” |
| Jason: ok… so what is the translation of the example of the dialog |
| Ingrid: "when I grow up, I will be a doctor”. Present future |
| “Quand je serai grand, je serai médecin » futur futur |
| Jason: Maybe a last example for our listeners. |
| Ingrid: "When they are tired, they will take a nap." |
| Quand ils seront fatigués, ils feront une sieste |
| Jason: Thank you Ingrid. To keep using the future: how would you say : « We will see you again for the next lesson “ |
| Ingrid: « nous nous verrons encore pour la prochaine leçon !! |
Outro |
| Jason: Okay, that’s going to do it for this lesson. Bye everyone! |
| Ingrid: À bientôt! Bye everyone |
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