Near Future: The Aller + Infinitive Secret
(or, how to talk about the future while ordering croissants)
When you’re in France, you need two things:
- A good bakery
- A quick way to talk about the future.
Enter the futur proche — literally “near future” — built with aller (to go) + an infinitive verb.
It’s ridiculously handy.
It works for anything you’re about to do — from catching a train to buying a baguette the size of your arm.
🧠 Quick Reminder: Aller in the Present
Before you can go anywhere in the future, you need to know how to say “to go” now.
💡 Note for travellers:
- Tu vas is informal — for friends, family, people you’d happily share a croissant with.
- Vous allez is formal — for shopkeepers, hotel staff, or that elegant French lady who looks like she’s judging your choice of baguette.
🥖 How to form the futur proche
[aller] + [infinitive]
That’s it. No complicated endings. Just conjugate aller, add your action verb, et voilà.
🚶🏻♂️ Example with aller (to go)
- Je vais aller à la boulangerie.
→ I’m going to go to the bakery. (Yes, aller twice — perfectly fine in French.) - Nous allons aller en ville demain.
→ We’re going to go into town tomorrow.
🍽 Example with manger (to eat)
- Je vais manger une baguette.
→ I’m going to eat a baguette. (The whole thing. No shame.) - Nous allons manger des croissants.
→ We’re going to eat croissants. (Plural. Always a good idea.)
🛒 Example with acheter (to buy)
- Tu vas acheter une baguette ?
→ Are you going to buy a baguette? - Ils vont acheter des croissants.
→ They’re going to buy croissants. (Probably for you… if you’re lucky.)
🇫🇷 Why travellers should love this
Because you can talk about the future without having to learn the actual future tense (which is a whole other baguette basket of endings).
You can say what’s next:
- Je vais visiter Paris. → I’m going to visit Paris.
- On va prendre le train. → We’re going to take the train.
- Elle va se perdre dans le métro. → She’s going to get lost in the metro. (It happens.)
🥐 Final tip
In French bakeries, futur proche is almost a survival skill:
If you say “Je vais acheter une baguette”, you sound decisive.
If you hesitate too long… the person behind you is going to buy the last croissant.
To be fair, it's better (and more polite) to say "Je voudrais une baguette" or "Je voudrais acheter une baguette"... ending with the magic word "s'il vous plaît". 😉
