ALLER (To Go) — Movement & Future

Why this matters

ALLER is arguably the most powerful verb at the A1 level. It does two jobs at once: it moves you through space (I go to the store) and through time (I'm going to eat dinner). Master it and you can talk about the present and the future — which is most of real conversation.

🦝 Remy says: "ALLER is my favorite verb. Je vais chercher des framboises — I'm going to look for raspberries. Je vais nager dans la rivière. With ALLER, you can express almost any plan. And plans are everything!"

Core Lesson: ALLER — Two Uses, One Verb

Conjugation (completely irregular — must memorize!)

| Pronoun | ALLER | Pronunciation | English | |

|

-|

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| | Je | vais | [veh] | I go | | Tu | vas | [va] | you go | | Il / Elle / On | va | [va] | he/she/one goes | | Nous | allons | [ah-lon] | we go | | Vous | allez | [ah-lay] | you go (formal/plural) | | Ils / Elles | vont | [von] | they go |

🦝 Remy's memory trick: "Think of the forms as a family: tiny baby va (goes alone), grown-up vais (I go), friend vas (you go), crowd vont (they go), team allons (we go), gathering allez (you all go). The -all forms look like 'aller' — they're the ones who kept the family name!"

Use #1 — Physical movement (going somewhere)

ALLER + preposition + place

| Preposition | Use | Example | |

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| | à + le → au | masculine place | Je vais au cinéma. | | à + la | feminine place | Elle va à la plage. | | à + l' | place starting with vowel | Il va **à l'**école. | | à + les → aux | plural place | Nous allons aux marchés. | | en | country (feminine) | Je vais en France. | | chez | someone's house/place | Tu vas chez ton ami. |

Movement examples

| French | Pronunciation | English | |

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| | Je vais au supermarché. | [zhuh veh oh sew-pair-mar-shay] | I'm going to the supermarket. | | Elle va à la gare. | [el va a la gar] | She's going to the station. | | Nous allons à Paris. | [noo za-lon a pa-ree] | We're going to Paris. | | Où vas-tu ? | [oo va tew] | Where are you going? | | Ils vont chez Marie. | [eel von shay ma-ree] | They're going to Marie's place. |

Use #2 — Near future (going to do something)

ALLER (conjugated) + infinitive = going to...

This is the most common way to talk about the future in everyday French!

| French | English | |

--|

| | Je vais manger. | I'm going to eat. | | Tu vas étudier ce soir ? | Are you going to study tonight? | | Elle va arriver demain. | She is going to arrive tomorrow. | | Nous allons voyager en été. | We're going to travel in summer. | | Vous allez voir un film ? | Are you going to watch a film? | | Ils vont partir lundi. | They are going to leave on Monday. |

Future time markers (use with near future)

| French | English | |

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| | ce soir | tonight | | demain | tomorrow | | la semaine prochaine | next week | | ce week-end | this weekend | | bientôt | soon | | l'année prochaine | next year |

📝 Exercise 1 — Fill in the Blank

Conjugate ALLER correctly:

1. Je _______ au marché ce matin.
2. Tu _______ étudier ce soir ?
3. Elle _______ à la bibliothèque demain.
4. Nous _______ voyager en Espagne l'été prochain.
5. Ils _______ manger au restaurant ce soir.

✅ Answers:

1. vais
2. vas
3. va
4. allons
5. vont

📝 Exercise 2 — Make a Sentence

1. I'm going to take the train to Lyon tomorrow.
2. She's going to the beach this weekend.
3. We're going to study French every day.

✅ Model answers:

1. Je vais prendre le train pour Lyon demain.
2. Elle va à la plage ce week-end.
3. Nous allons étudier le français tous les jours.

📝 Exercise 3 — Movement or Future? Identify the use of ALLER

1. Je vais à l'école.
2. Tu vas manger une pizza ?
3. Nous allons en France la semaine prochaine.
4. Elle va appeler son ami ce soir.
5. Ils vont au cinéma.

✅ Answers:

1. Movement
2. Future
3. Movement (and could imply future)
4. Future
5. Movement

🎯 Today's Challenge

Write your plans for the next 48 hours in French. Use at least 3 different subjects (je, il/elle, nous) and mix movement sentences with near-future sentences. Aim for 5 sentences total.

⭐ Key Takeaways

• ALLER is completely irregular — memorize all six forms: vais, vas, va, allons, allez, vont.
• For movement, use ALLER + à/au/à la/en/chez + place.
• For near future, use ALLER + infinitive — this is the everyday way to talk about plans in French.