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The Future Tense of -er Verbs

HigherHigher tier onlyAQA

Understand The Future Tense of -er Verbs for GCSE French with this free worksheet and full mark scheme — Higher tier exam-style practice with worked answers for AQA GCSE French (8652). At Higher tier the inflectional future is formed by adding endings to the infinitive.

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These worksheets and mark schemes are original, written for Virtus Academy and checked against the current AQA specification. Every worksheet comes with a full mark scheme.

This is a Higher tier only topic, so there's no Foundation paper — only the Higher worksheet and mark scheme below.

Higher

WorksheetHigher · PDFMark SchemeHigher · PDF

Topic overview

The future tense says what will happen, and for -er verbs it is built on the infinitive itself. This is a Higher-only topic.

Take the whole infinitive and add the endings -ai, -as, -a, -ons, -ez, -ont. So parler gives je parlerai, tu parleras, il parlera, nous parlerons, vous parlerez, ils parleront.

The endings are identical to the present tense of avoir, which makes them easy to remember. The crucial point is that the infinitive is kept whole — the r is never dropped. Je parlerai keeps both the r of the infinitive and the ending, which is what distinguishes it from the conditional and from the present.

Revision notes

Forming the future

Keep the whole infinitive and add -ai, -as, -a, -ons, -ez, -ont.

Parler gives je parlerai, tu parleras, il parlera, nous parlerons, vous parlerez, ils parleront. The r of the infinitive is always kept.

The endings are avoir

The future endings are the present tense of avoir: ai, as, a, ons, ez, ont.

This is a useful memory aid, and it works for every verb in the language including the irregular ones, whose stems change but whose endings never do.

Keeping the r

The r before the ending is what marks the future.

Je parlerai has it; je parlais does not. Dropping the r turns the future into something else entirely, so it must be written every time.

Key points

  • The future says what will happen.
  • -er verbs keep the whole infinitive as the stem.
  • The endings are -ai, -as, -a, -ons, -ez, -ont.
  • These match the present tense of avoir.
  • The r of the infinitive is always kept.
  • The endings never change, even for irregulars.

Worked examples

Example 1

Give the je form of the future of parler. [2 marks]

Working

je parleraiadd -ai to the whole infinitive
The infinitive parler is kept complete, including the rexplain the stem

Example 2

Give the ils form of the future of manger. [2 marks]

Working

ils mangerontadd -ont to the whole infinitive
The ending -ont matches the present tense of avoirexplain the ending

Example 3

Explain what distinguishes je parlerai from je parlais. [2 marks]

Working

Je parlerai is the future and keeps the r of the infinitiveexplain the future
Je parlais is the imperfect and has no r before the endingexplain the imperfect

Common mistakes

  • Dropping the r before the ending.

    It is what marks the future.

  • Using the imperfect endings.

    The future takes -ai, not -ais.

  • Changing the endings for irregular verbs.

    Only the stem changes; the endings are fixed.

  • Confusing the future with the near future.

    The future is one word; the near future uses aller.

Exam tips

  • Keep the whole infinitive as the stem.
  • Remember the endings are the present of avoir.
  • Always write the r before the ending.
  • Remember this is a Higher-only topic.

Key terms

Future tense
A tense saying what will happen.
Stem
The whole infinitive for regular -er verbs.
Ending
-ai, -as, -a, -ons, -ez or -ont.
Infinitive
The base form used as the future stem.

Related topics

Written and reviewed against the current AQA specification. Spotted an error? Let us know.