Why You Should Never Say "Je ferai" in Spoken French (futur)
Want to improve your spoken French? It’s time to drop ‘le futur’! Let me explain.
Spoken French is quite different from the technical, written French you learned in school. In fact, it’s almost a completely different lesson! School French unintentionally sets you up for failure to progress fast in speaking and understanding everyday French. For example, written exams prioritize grammar and conjugation that are rarely used in everyday conversations.
There are several verb tenses that you may have learned in school that we don’t really use in spoken French, such as le futur. Sorry to those of you who spent many hours memorizing conjugation tables! I’ll explain this further in today’s lesson, with some examples of what to use instead.
0:00 - Intro
0:27 - Don’t use “le futur simple”
2:02 - Practice with “le futur proche”
4:32 - Your turn now: Practice!
10:56 - Final Challenge
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Géraldine
What a strange video. Of course we use the futur simple in day-to-day conversation. And also futur proche. But the difference is that futur proche is, as signaled by the name....close. "Je vais faire du thé" means I'l make it now, in the next minutes. "Je ferai du thé" will be used to refer to the fact that I will make it when we will meet later or tomorrow. Same for "tu trouveras une solution" means that you will eventually find one, while "tu vas trouver une solution" is more like you are going to find a solution today. "On va vendre la maison" means we are going to do it next, let's call a real estate agent now, while "on vendra la maison" will be said when you discuss future plans selling the house is a part of. Bottom line : as a French speaker, I use futur simple as often as I use futur proche.
Thanks for this additional commentary. I've been speaking French, fairly well, for a number of years and your explanation fits perfectly for how I've been using it! I started to think I've been making huge informal "gaffes" all these years (and I even lived in France for 3 years). I think the title of this video is more for click-bait...to say "never" is misleading.
100%, did not get into this in my response to the video but this is something I notice. Je vais usually signals I am literally about to do this. My experience with Francophones is online in video games, so I find differences in how they speak based on age and location too. It is quite surprising at times, and I have been corrected by some for things that others tell me I say correctly. If learning a language could get more confusing, it will.
'Tu vas trouver une solution' could also mean you'll find one eventually. And really who talks about making tea that far into the future?!
Completely agree. This is a very good explanation of how we use it natively.
I think Géraldine was just trying to get our attention at the start of the video. She clarifies this starting at 10:08.
Le futur proche est plus commun mais si vs avez une phrase qui commence avec “si” c’est nécessaire. Par exemple…si j’ai une bonne note en français, je serai très contente.
Fabulous! Thank you! ✨
Just as a note to anyone, not all French people prefer this. I have met some who are snobby about using vais/vas when speaking to them. Usually those who use vais/vas a lot are younger, and those who do not are older generations. I've also met super nice people who don't care either way! Great, clear pronunciation and explanations. Je vous remercie pour vos bons conseils! Excellente video!
When I learned futur simple in university, we were told that it was mainly used in writing, not in speech.
There seems to be a lot of differing views from the sites I’ve looked at, but to say everyday French avoids the futur simple is a little too strong. With quand, lorsque, etc., it sounds a lot more correct to use the future tense if it’s not the near future.“quand j’rentrerai chez moi, je te verrai.” (Subtext: un jour, pas toute suite). And it’s right now, you’d use the present. “Quand je rentre ce soir…” There’s a bit more of a predictive quality to the futur simple, so I think it tends to be used a lot more for the weather than in English. “D’après la télé, il fera beau demain.”
It's incorrect. We use this tense quite regularly.
I found this the best explanation I have ever found. Look forward to watching more.
Careful though, it's not entirely correct (as you can see from the comments from many native speakers like myself). We regularly use this tense in conversational French here in Paris and across France. They have two slightly different senses. This video seems like an oversimplification to get clicks and views, but it shouldn't be taken for "gospel" as you'd call it. Otherwise when you're speaking to people, you'll really have a hard time understanding nuance.
I mostly agree ... except for the example "je vais survivre". The expression "je survivrai" or "tu survivras" is more common than "je vais survivre" ou "tu vas survivre". If you have a minor injury or illness and complain too much about it, someone will probably tell you "n'en fais pas tout une histoire : tu survivras!" (don't make a fuss about it : you will survive). In this context an alternative to "tu survivras" would be "tu vas t'en sortir" but rarely "tu vas survivre".
I personally find lots, and lots, and lots of uses of using the future tense naturally when I speak or people I know speak (all native speakers). I think it's just that we don't specifically apply rules -- sometimes it just comes naturally depending on the context.
In Québec its the opposite
Merci beaucoup pour le leçon 👍👍✍🏾
A very complete and beneficial answer to a question I have had for a long time...even as I had already been habitually using the "le futur proche" in conversations during our five years living and working in France. By the way, as you pointed out, using le futur proche is a very nice quick-start shortcut in other latin languages, such as Spanish or Italian, as one does not have to mentally conjugate the yet another tense of verbs. Bravo!
I love seeing your channel pop-up but this is probably the third time I'm not aligned with what's being said as a French speaker in Paris 😂. I find it very common to use the future tense still, particularly in maybe certain circles/certain levels of education. Like, it's quite natural to say "ça fera l'affaire" "tu trouveras une solution" "je ferai ça une fois sur place" "tu te sentirás mieux...". I think it really depends on context, what circles you are in, upbringing, age, and lots of other factors. It almost sounds a bit "nicer" than va/vais+verb when someone says that. But you're right that it's super normal to just use aller +, and in fact often we just use the present tense without any modification to refer to the future, but it needs to be deduced from the context (eg. Let's finish this, and then we take a little cafe ? -- would be very unnatural phrasing in English)
I'm curious if you can also use present tense for the near future, like in English, because that sounds right to my ear (we leave tonight, we are going out tonight) : Nous partons ce soir etc.
For exercise 5, wouldn't it be "Michel et Alice vont les voir demain"? You left out the "tomorrow" in the translation.
chui ben content qu'on m'a envoye vot' videometrage!...bien a vous, notre encoourageuse, si exigeante!
Merci vachement pour le leçon
omg my friends and I were having this whole conversation about future tenses last week, this honestly helps because futur proche is so much simpler to form for me learning, i struggle with futur simple, maybe i'll try this until i get more comfortable speaking
Magnifique information de grammaire française de week et journée
EXCELLENT Lesson! Merci beaucoup. Non je fais pas tous (toutes) correctment. Tu vois pourquoi j'ai besoin des ces lecons? Beaucoup des errreurs! Oh la la la!
U mk me feel good watching ... U gimme tat confidence n Josh ❤
Good points. With so much to remember and so many exceptions to know, for a foreigner to soundi like a French person takes huge effort. An accent acceptable to a French person is all I need. My sounding formal tells a French person I do not pretend to be either French or a native speaker and may tell them to slow down too.
This is all a bit too complicated for me, but I enjoy watching this type of video anyway.
@@ajs41 If you enjoy learning keep at it, things that seem too difficult have a way of making sense eventually. It's one of the really weird but cool things about learning other languages. When you make a break through it is a great feeling
When I took French in the 8th grade over 40 years ago, I remember really enjoying learning the "futur proche." As mentioned, it translates rather well to the English, "going to (infinitive)." I just want to say one thing about English, though. Rarely does anyone say, "going to." It is inevitably contracted to "gonna" when spoken, and sometimes even in informal writings.
Great practice - the examples are just right - yippee most are challenging 😮- could get some 😅 . Where is your buy a coffee or superthanks button? C'est disparu
thanks.
C'est une bonne leçon. Je voulais justement devenir un peu plus formel. Si je utilise marginalement moins le futur proche dans les prochains mois, alors j'espère que ça m'aidera à être pris au serieus un jour. 😉
Overall very nice and helpful video as usual. However, in my own experience at least (living, working in a large city in France for the past several years) the futur simple is used reasonably often in conversation, e.g. when someone is predicting something will happen later (vs about to happen). So I was a bit confused/alarmed by the claims that "we don't really use it in spoken French". I guess this is to emphasize to beginners that they should focus on futur proche to help them gain confidence, which is good advice. But perhaps a bit too strong.
bonjour.... watching your video, i am a bit surprised by your comments .. "we do not use the futur simple when talking"...I am afraid you are wrong... en tant que français (as french guy) I am used to use this "futur time"... what you call "futur proche" was in fact the progressive present which was tough to me at school some 40 years ago... i use it in english as it seems natural... but in french, the futur simple remains used... and not only by me....
Your awesome
Your spelling sucks.
sorry, but i don't agree. As its name say, the near future tense is for near future. for actual future, i use the future tense even in spoken french. In spoken language, we don't only speak about near future.
Completely agree as another native speaker.
Question. I email my friends in France. Should I still type using the future tense since I am not speaking to them?
Yes, if possible, but dont feel bad if you have to take the easy route sometimes! If they are good friends they will think nothing of it!
Merci! Intéressant, j'aurais pensé que le futur simple serait plus utilisé en français parlé, car il est abrégé.
Contrairement à ce qui est dit dans cette vidéo, on utilise les deux assez régulièrement.
Vraiment ? Je n’aurais pas deviné. Même dans le cas où vous dites quelque chose comme “cet aprem, on va au parc, et puis on prendra du café.” ?
No in that case, we could use a present tense -- on prend un petit café apres ?
I remember at school being taught not to use aller+infinitive
That sounds crazy, it’s extremely common.
Usually we learn futur proche before futur simple … like in the very beginning, within months.
Brain freeze: lui as he/she without context. Total brain freeze🤯
🎉🎉🎉
👍❤🙂
So I spend years learning all the endless conjugations to be told it's not done. Again. There are ALWAYS exceptions... No wonder it's such a difficult language to finally speak. It's like a minefield of mistakes.
parle en français s'il te plait :)
So why should we NEVER say "Je ferai"?
That's incorrect. We often use it.
I avoid grammar in learning the language as I realised (much too late) that small children don't read books when they learn to communicate in better French than me, and anyway I have an aversion to bureaucracy. So, bof! Been there done that! But nice to know anyway!
Aller + infinitive is one of life's gifts to learners. Even if the infinitive is less common, people work it out. It is the ultimate go to verb!
French has too many rules. Written and unwritten!
There are languages that are far more complicated, like Russian or German. English is pretty ridiculous if you are not a native speaker (bizarre spelling, loaded with irregular verbs) but I think anglos in diverse cities are very tolerant of mistakes in comparison to say, Parisians. Just my opinion as a native French/English speaker.
Agree. English full of nuance ( and nonsense) too where for example emphasis can invert meaning. " I'm going to PASS on that advice " ( I won't take that advice on board) " I'm going to pass ON that advice"( I will deliver that advice)
Using the future proche should be easy for Engllish speakers. We use the same construction "I am going to eat fish today". Using "going to" (future proche) rather than "will" (future simple) usually suggests a more definite plan. Using your example "I am going to survive" suggests I have a plan. "I will survive" is more aspirational. I only understood this when I did a course in teaching English as a foreign language in my 60s. As usual there are similarities between English and French.
Totally wrong. I totally disagree with what this lady says. I use both in everyday conversation. Thee two forms correspond to two différent situations in Time . This lady would Line to impoverish our language to erase thé nuances that are the riches of french.