How do you conjugate and apply the future tense in French?

Firstly, we should understand that there are several future tenses in French - just like in English, although you may not have noticed that before. "I will", "I am going to", "I will have" and so on. Although there's no 'single' future tense to get your head around, the use of the future tense is almost identical to its use in English, which makes translation between the two languages a lot less complicated!

Let's begin with the easiest and most frequently used future tense: the near future (le futur proche). Just as it sounds, this is used to refer to events which will be happening in the near future. All you need to know to conjugate this tense is the infinitive version of the main verb in the sentence and the appropriate conjugation of the verb aller - to go. Think of this tense as "I am going to" in English, as the two are pretty much interchangeablle. *Quickly recap the conjugation of the verb aller if necessary).

For example: I am going to walk the dog [promener le chien].

We know how to conjugate "I am going" in French - Je vais. Once we've got this, simply leave the main verb in it's infinitive state and voila ---> Je vais promener le chien.

The second most frequently used future tense in French - and the only other one you will be expected to know at GCSE level - is the simple future (le futur simple). This is used in almost every situation you would use the verb 'will' in English, with the exception of events in the very near future which, as we've discussed, would take the le futur proche. 

This tense is also relatively easy to form. As with the near future, you'll need to know the main verb in the sentence in its infinitve form. Unfortunely, the next stage requires you to learn some verb conjugations by heart. Slightly dull I know, but once you know these you should be able to conjugate any French verb in the simple future tense! 

Go through list of conjugation endings if required

-ai
-as 
-a
-ons
-ez 
-ont

Regular -er and -ir verbs can adopt the ending exactly how they are. E.g; tomber (to fall) would become "je tomberai" in the first-person form. He will eat, would be "il mangera". 

Give student some examples to try for themselves

Verbs ending in -re are ever so slightly more complicated, but still nothing to worry about! In order to get the "stem form of the verb", all you need to do is remove the -e from the end. Eg: combattre (to fight or combat) would become "je combattrai" in the first-person form. Here's a breakdown of how we got there. 

Infinitive (combattre) --> stem (combattr) --> respective ending (ai, for the 1st person) --> je combattrai. I will fight. 

*Depending on student's level and grasp of previous tenses, open option to move onto more complex future tenses... "I will have" etc.