Aller Conjugation: The French Verb Cheat Code

Quick question: what do je vais, nous allons, and ils vont have in common?

They're all the same verb. Yes, really. Welcome to aller, "to go," the most gloriously irregular verb in French, and secretly the most useful one you'll ever learn.

Most guides will hand you a wall of conjugation tables and wish you luck. We're going to do something different: learn the forms, sure, but also unlock the one trick that makes aller your shortcut to speaking about the future without conjugating anything else. Ready? On y va.

Why Aller Breaks All the Rules (And Why You'll Love It Anyway)

Aller looks like a regular -er verb. It is not. It doesn't even pretend to be.

Look at the present tense: vais, vas, va... none of these start with "all-" anything. That's because aller is a Frankenstein verb, stitched together over centuries from three different Latin verbs. That's the historical reason it feels chaotic.

Here's the good news: because aller is one of the most used verbs in the entire language, you'll hear it constantly. Your ear will absorb it faster than almost any other irregular verb. You don't need to be perfect on day one, you need to start using it.

Aller Conjugation in the Present Tense

The one table you genuinely need to memorize:

• Je vais — I go / I'm going

• Tu vas — You go (informal)

• Il / Elle / On va — He / She / We (casual) goes

• Nous allons — We go

• Vous allez — You go (formal or plural)

• Ils / Elles vont — They go

Memory trick: notice that vais, vas, va all start with v, and so does vont. Only nous and vous keep the "all-" of aller. So: the four V forms belong to the singulars and "they," the two ALL forms belong to us and you-all. Say it out loud five times and it sticks.

Real sentences:

• Je vais au marché. — I'm going to the market.

• Tu vas bien ? — Are you doing well? (Yes, "how are you" in French literally uses "to go.")

• Nous allons à Paris cet été. — We're going to Paris this summer.

The Cheat Code: Le Futur Proche

Here's what most conjugation tables never tell you, and it's the single best reason to master aller early.

Take any conjugated form of aller in the present, add any verb in its infinitive (dictionary) form, and boom: you're talking about the future. No future tense conjugation needed. None.

• Je vais manger. — I'm going to eat.

• Tu vas adorer ce film. — You're going to love this movie.

• Nous allons apprendre le subjonctif. — We're going to learn the subjunctive. (One day. No rush.)

This is called le futur proche, and native speakers use it constantly in everyday conversation, often more than the "real" future tense. Master six forms of one verb, and suddenly you can put any of the thousands of French verbs into the future. That's the best return on investment in the entire language.

Aller in the Passé Composé (Watch Out for Être)

Time for the one trap everyone falls into once. In the past tense, most French verbs use avoir as their helper. Aller is one of the rebels that uses être instead:

• Je suis allé(e) — I went

• Tu es allé(e) — You went

• Il est allé / Elle est allée — He / She went

• Nous sommes allé(e)s — We went

• Vous êtes allé(e)(s) — You went

• Ils sont allés / Elles sont allées — They went

Two things to notice. First, the helper is être (suis, es, est...), never avoir. Saying j'ai allé is the classic learner mistake, and now you'll never make it. Second, because it uses être, the past participle agrees with the subject: a woman writes je suis allée, a group of women writes elles sont allées. In speech, they all sound identical, so relax, this mostly matters in writing.

Aller in the Imparfait and Futur Simple

Imparfait (ongoing or repeated past, "used to go / was going"): here aller finally behaves, using the regular stem all-:

• J'allais, tu allais, il allait, nous allions, vous alliez, ils allaient

• Example: Quand j'étais petit, j'allais chez ma grand-mère tous les dimanches. When I was little, I used to go to my grandmother's every Sunday.

Futur simple (the "real" future): one last surprise, the stem becomes ir-:

• J'irai, tu iras, il ira, nous irons, vous irez, ils iront

• Example: Un jour, j'irai à Paris. — One day, I will go to Paris.

Why "ir-"? It's a leftover from the Latin verb ire, "to go." That Frankenstein history again. When in doubt in conversation, remember you can almost always use the futur proche instead: je vais aller à Paris works just fine.

Quick Practice: Test Yourself

Fill in the blank with the right form of aller:

1. Nous ______ au restaurant ce soir. (present)

2. Elle est ______ à la plage hier. (passé composé)

3. Je ______ t'appeler demain. (futur proche)

4. Quand il était jeune, il ______ à l'école à pied. (imparfait)

(Answers: 1. allons, 2. allée, note the extra -e, she's a woman, 3. vais, 4. allait)

Got all four? You know more about aller than most learners ever bother to learn.

FAQ

Is aller an irregular verb?
Yes, extremely. It's built from three different Latin verbs, which is why its forms (vais, allons, irai) look nothing like each other. It's also one of the three most used verbs in French, so the exposure makes it easier to absorb than it looks.

Does aller use être or avoir in the passé composé?
Être, always. "I went" is je suis allé(e), never j'ai allé. It's one of the small group of movement verbs that take être.

What is the futur proche in French?
It's the "near future" structure: a present-tense form of aller plus any infinitive. Je vais partir means "I'm going to leave." It's the most common way to talk about the future in everyday spoken French.

How do you say "how are you" using aller?
French uses "to go" for wellbeing: Comment ça va ? or Tu vas bien ? Literally "how does it go?", just like the casual English "how's it going?"

Knowing these tables is step one. Actually saying je vais instead of freezing up mid-sentence, that only comes from using it out loud, with a real person, until it stops being grammar and starts being reflex.

That's exactly what happens in SylvAcademy's small group conversation sessions: real dialogue, a native French speaker correcting you kindly in the moment, and enough speaking time that verbs like aller become automatic instead of stressful.

Want aller to come out of your mouth without thinking? Join a Standard Group session and practice it in real conversation this week.