Future & Conditional

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The Future Tense

French and English use the future tense (

le futur

) in much the same way.

J'irai la semaine prochaine.
I will go next week.

Tu crois que tout ira bien ?
Do you think everything will go well?

L’humanité n’avancera pas sans rêves ; mais les rêves ne deviendront réalité que si nous avons le courage de les réaliser. - Jean Jaurès (1903)
Humanity will not move forward without dreams; but dreams will become reality only if we have the courage to make them so.

As already mentioned, the present tense is often used to express future actions in French. It makes the action feel more immediate or certain.

In French, you can use aller + infinitive instead of the future tense. In everyday conversation, speakers overwhelmingly prefer this construction, called the near future (

le futur proche

Ils vont appeler nos parents.
They will call our parents.

Nous allons reprendre la lutte. - Charles de Gaulle 1940
We will resume the fight.

Je vais lui dire la vérité, enfin.
I will tell him the truth, finally.

The Conditional

Technically, the conditional (

le conditionnel

) is a mood, not a tense. Up to now, we’ve been working with the indicative mood, which describes real actions or facts. The present tense, all the verb forms of the past tense, and the future are all reality describers.

The conditional expresses what is hypothetical, possible, or dependent on certain conditions. In English it is expressed using would and sometimes should or could.

Elle aurait crié si elle avait su la vérité.
She would have screamed if she had known the truth.

Si vous nettoyiez votre chambre, votre colocataire serait plus gentil avec vous.
If you cleaned your room, your roommate would be nicer to you.

Elle aurait fait son devoir, mais elle n'a pas de crayon.
She would have done her homework, but she doesn't have a pencil.

Huit jours avec de la fièvre! J'aurais encore eu le temps d'écrire un livre! — Honoré de Balzac sur son lit de mort
Eight days of fever! I would still have had the time to write a book!

To express uncertainty:

Il semblerait que des extraterrestres leur aient rendu visite.
It would seem that aliens have visited them.

The conditional is also often used to soften speech — to make a request, suggestion, or question sound more polite.

Je voudrais du bon vin blanc.
I would like some nice white wine.

Pourriez-vous lui parler à ma place?
Could you talk to him for me?

Either the future or conditional is used to refer to future actions when talking about the past.When reporting speech or thoughts from the past, French uses either the future or the conditional to express future actions — depending on whether the speaker is still referring to the future as real (future simple) or as something viewed from a past perspective (conditional).

Le candidat a dit qu'il aiderait les pauvres.
The candidate said he would help the poor.

Le candidat a dit qu'il aidera les pauvres !
The candidate said he will help the poor!