These two tenses are a matched pair. The simple future (le futur) says what will happen — je parlerai. The conditional (le conditionnel) says what would happen — je voudrais. They share the same stem and differ only in the endings, so learning one gives you the other. These are the tenses for your Studying & my future plans and the travel you would love to do.
Work through each screen and answer the questions as you go — some ask you to recognise the right form, some ask you to produce it by typing. Collect ⭐ stars and press Start.
The simple future is one of the easiest tenses. Take the infinitive itself as the stem and add these endings:
Spot the pattern: the future endings are almost the present tense of avoir (ai, as, a, ons, ez, ont) glued onto the infinitive. Only -re verbs change — they lose the final -e before adding the ending.
Here is a full -er verb laid out. Notice the infinitive stays whole and the endings simply attach:
| person | form |
|---|---|
| je | parlerai |
| tu | parleras |
| il / elle / on | parlera |
| nous | parlerons |
| vous | parlerez |
| ils / elles | parleront |
Keep the r: every future form keeps the r of the infinitive — that r is the "sound of the future". Je parlerai (future) vs je parlais (imperfect) differ by that r.
A group of high-frequency verbs use a special irregular stem in the future — but the same endings. Learn these cold:
| être | ser- |
| avoir | aur- |
| aller | ir- |
| faire | fer- |
| venir | viendr- |
| savoir | saur- |
| pouvoir | pourr- |
| vouloir | voudr- |
| devoir | devr- |
| voir | verr- |
| falloir | il faudra |
Common trap: "I will be" is je serai (stem ser-), never je êtrai. You cannot build these from the infinitive — you memorise the stem, then add the normal endings.
Does each verb use its plain infinitive as the future stem, or a special one?
Tap an infinitive on the left, then tap its future stem on the right.
The conditional is the future's twin. It uses the same stem as the future, but takes the imperfect endings (-ais, -ais, -ait, -ions, -iez, -aient). It means "would":
Politeness superpower: the conditional is how you sound polite in French. Je voudrais ("I would like") is far softer than je veux ("I want"). Learn je voudrais, j'aimerais, ce serait, il faudrait — they will lift every speaking answer.
Because they share a stem, the only difference is the ending. Compare them side by side for parler:
| je parlerai |
| tu parleras |
| il parlera |
| nous parlerons |
| vous parlerez |
| ils parleront |
| je parlerais |
| tu parlerais |
| il parlerait |
| nous parlerions |
| vous parleriez |
| ils parleraient |
The tiny "s": je parlerai (no s) = "I will speak"; je parlerais (with s) = "I would speak". One letter changes the whole meaning — worth double-checking in writing.
These tenses shine in si ("if") sentences. There are two fixed patterns to learn:
Keep the pair together: present goes with future, imperfect goes with conditional. Never mix them — si j'aurais is a classic slip. The conditional lives in the main clause, not after si.
The conditional is the natural tense for soft, polite requests — English "could" and "would":
Why it matters: using pourriez-vous or tu pourrais instead of a blunt command instantly raises the tone. Est-ce que vous pouvez… works too, but the conditional is more courteous — a genuine mark-earner in speaking.
Simple future: infinitive + -ai/-as/-a/-ons/-ez/-ont (drop the -e of -re verbs). je parlerai, tu finiras, il vendra.
Irregular future stems: être→ser-, avoir→aur-, aller→ir-, faire→fer-, venir→viendr-, pouvoir→pourr-, vouloir→voudr-, devoir→devr-, voir→verr-, savoir→saur-, falloir→il faudra.
Conditional: future stem + imperfect endings (-ais…-aient) = "would". je voudrais, j'aimerais, on pourrait, il faudrait, ce serait.
Si clauses: si + present → future (Si j'ai le temps, je viendrai); si + imperfect → conditional (Si j'avais le temps, je viendrais).
Polite: the conditional (je voudrais, pourriez-vous…) softens requests.
Next in the spine: the subjunctive and other higher-tier structures. Press Finish to see your score.
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Next in the spine: higher-tier structures — the subjunctive and beyond. Then lock this in with the Evaluate confidence quiz.