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Sep 02, 2015 - 02:02 PM
Going all the way back to the discussion about future tenses: just like we have three ways of expressing the future in English, we have three ways to do so in French or Spanish as well. We can say:
1) I will go to that restaurant tomorrow
2) I’m going to go to that restaurant tomorrow
3) I’m going to that restaurant tomorrow
There’s a slight change in meaning but essentially we are talking about a future action. In French and Spanish there are also three ways:
1) Iré a ese restaurante mañana
2) Voy a ir a ese restaurante mañana
3) Voy a ese restaurante mañana
And in French:
1) J’irai à ce restaurant demain
2) Je vais aller à ce restaurant demain
3) Je vais à ce restaurant demain
Now, at Fluenz we focus on teaching you the structures that you are most likely going to hear on street. That’s why we teach you how to express future actions using the Going to future (2) and the Present tense (3). We don’t teach a specific future conjugation (1) because the truth is that, in French as in Spanish, it’s hardly ever used in conversation.
For example, in Spanish, it’s very rare to use the future tense in the everyday conversation. So instead of saying:
Comeré en ese restaurante mañana – I will eat at that restaurant tomorrow
It is muuuuuuuuch more common to say:
VOY a comer en ese restaurante mañana – I’m going to eat at that restaurant tomorrow
And instead of:
Iré esta noche – I will go tonight
Again, you are much more likely to hear:
Voy esta noche – I’m going tonight
In French the future tense is even less common and would sound very formal in a lot of situations. The most common way to express the future in French is the structure with Aller + verb in inf (2) or even the present tense (3).
So it would be:
Je vais manger ici ce soir – I’m going to eat here tonight
Je vais à Paris ce week-end – I’m going to Paris this weekend
As you are very familiar with by now, very often this present tense is translated with the Will structure in English. So it’s:
El museo ABRE (present) a las ocho
Or in French:
Le musée OUVRE (present) à huit heures
Yet in English it would be:
The museum WILL OPEN at eight
As we said, it would sound very formal, even weird, to use the future tense here. So, we decided to keep the future tense for an intermediate level because at this stage it really isn’t necessary for you to express yourself and understand people on the street. I hope this helps in case you were still wondering.