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Learn how to conjugate the useful French verb aller with this conjugation guide. Learn its meaning and uses too, then take a short quiz after

ALLER is one of the three most commonly used French verbs. Its meaning is simple – to go – but its value is that you can use it in the present tense to create a sense of something you are going to do in the future, so it’s invaluable to you. It is far more irregular as a verb in French than in English but it’s well worth the effort to learn it carefully, especially the present tense forms.

In this article, you’re going to learn about some of the more common uses of ALLER, and there is a short quiz at the end to help you remember some of the key parts and uses of the verb.

Uses of ALLER

The verb aller is highly irregular, so it doesn’t follow a particular pattern when you conjugate it.  It doesn’t even always start with an ‘A’ so you might not recognise some of the different tense forms of the verb straightaway. It is one of only a few verbs with a future tense stem that does not come from its infinitive form

ALLER is used in three different ways.

1. 1In its most simple sense, it means ‘to go’ and it’s the most commonly used verb of motion in French. It is used in many phrases that relate to your social or routine activities, such as: Je vais au bureau (I go to the office) and Nous allons au cinéma (We’re going to the cinema).
2. 2It is used to make statements or to ask questions about the status or condition of things. Example: Comment vas-tu? (How are you?), and Il va bien (He’s fine).
3. 3And it is an important auxiliary verb to create the compound future tense (a more simple form of the future tense with the meaning ‘going to’ rather than ‘will’. Example: Il va faire chaud demain (It’s going to be warm tomorrow).

Click on this link to see some of the more common uses of Aller.

Conjugation of ALLER

As you now know, this is an irregular verb and some of its forms seem a little complicated. Keep repeating the verb and listening to the audio, and you’ll learn it in no time though.

Let’s review the conjugation of ALLER in the indicative mood. Aller conjugation examples below:

How to conjugate ALLER in the present tense (Présent)

In English, there are two present tenses – the Present Simple and the Present Continuous. In French, there’s only one tense – Le Présent. French is easy, right?

In the present tense table below, you can see the two different meanings in English.

• Je vaisI go, I am going
• Tu vasYou go, you are going
• Il / elle vaHe / she goes, he / she is going
• Nous allonsWe go, we are going
• Vous allezYou go, you are going
• Ils / elles vontThey go, they are going

How to conjugate ALLER in the Imparfait

The imperfect is used to create a sense of something that continued happening in the past. In English we would say ‘I was doing something’ or that ‘I used to do it’.

• J’allaisI was going
• Tu allaisYou were going
• Il / elle allaitHe / she was going
• Nous allionsWe were going
• Vous alliezYou were going
• Ils / elles allaientThey were going

How to conjugate ALLER in the Futur

There are two things to remember here:

1. 1This is one of only a few verbs with a future tense stem that does not come from its infinitive form.
2. 2The Simple Future (which we’re not covering specifically) uses ALLER in the present tense along with the infinitive of the verb which is telling us the action being carried out to convey a meaning of ‘going to…’. Example: Je vais travailler ce soir (I’m going to work this evening).

• J’iraiI will go
• Tu irasYou will go
• Il / elle iraHe / she will go
• Nous ironsWe will go
• Vous irezYou will go
• Ils / elles irontThey will go

How to conjugate ALLER in the Passé Composé

ALLER is one of only a few verbs to be conjugated with Être in the compound past tenses. This makes it slightly more difficult to learn and use but there is still a pattern to it. Most of the time you can’t hear the different endings of the past participle but the differences are important in writing nonetheless.

• Je suis allé(e)I went
• Tu es allé(e)You went
• Il est alléHe went
• Elle est alléeShe went
• Nous sommes allé(e)sWe went
• Vous êtes allé(e)(s)You went
• Ils sont allésThey went
• Elles sont alléesThey went

You may have worked out that the additional ‘e’ tells us the subject is feminine, and the ‘s’ tells us the subject is plural.

How to conjugate ALLER in the Passé Simple

• J’allaiI went
• Tu allasYou went
• Il / elle allaHe / she went
• Nous allâmesWe went
• Vous allâtesYou went
• Ils / elles allèrentThey went

How to conjugate ALLER in the Plus-que-Parfait

• J’étais allé(e)I had gone
• Tu étais allé(e)You had gone
• Il était alléHe had gone
• Elle était alléeShe had gone
• Nous étions allé(e)sWe had gone
• Vous étiez allé(e)(s)You had gone
• Ils étaient allésThey had gone
• Elles étaient alléesThey had gone

How to conjugate ALLER in the Passé Antérieur

• Je fus allé(e)I had gone
• Tu fus allé(e)You had gone
• Il fut alléHe had gone
• Elle fut alléeShe had gone
• Nous fûmes allé(e)sWe had gone
• Vous fûtes allé(e)(s)You had gone
• Ils furent allésThey had gone
• Elles furent alléesThey had gone

How to conjugate ALLER in the Futur Antérieur

• Je serai allé(e)I will have gone
• Tu seras allé(e)You will have gone
• Il sera alléHe will have gone
• Elle sera alléeShe will have gone
• Nous serons allé(e)sWe will have gone
• Vous serez allé(e)(s)You will have gone
• Ils seront allésThey will have gone
• Elles seront alléesThey will have gone

How to conjugate ALLER in the Subjunctive mood (Subjonctif)

How to conjugate aller in Present Subjunctive (Subjonctif Présent)

• que j’aillethat I go
• que tu aillesthat you go
• qu’il / elle aillethat he / she goes
• que nous allionsthat we go
• que vous alliezthat you go
• qu’ils / elles aillentthat they go

How to conjugate aller in Imperfect Subjunctive (Subjonctif Imparfait)

• que j’allassethat I was going
• que tu allassesthat you were going
• qu’il / elle allâtthat he / she was going
• que nous allassionsthat we were going
• que vous allassiezthat you were going
• qu’ils / elles allassentthat they were going

How to conjugate aller in Past Subjunctive (Subjonctif Passé)

• que je sois allé(e)that I went
• que tu sois allé(e)that you went
• qu’il soit alléthat he went
• qu’ elle soit alléethat she went
• que nous soyons allé(e)sthat we went
• que vous soyez allé(e)(s)that you went
• qu’ils soient allésthat they went
• qu’elles soient alléesthat they went

How to conjugate Aller in Past Perfect Subjunctive (Plus-que-Parfait)

• que je fusse allé(e)that I had gone
• que tu fusses allé(e)that you had gone
• qu’il fût alléthat he had gone
• qu’elle fût alléethat she had gone
• que nous fussions allé(e)sthat we had gone
• que vous fussiez allé(e)(s)that you had gone
• qu’ils fussent allésthat they had gone
• qu’elles fussent alléesthat they had gone

How to conjugate ALLER in the Conditional Mood (Conditionnel)

Aller Conditionnel tables below:

How to conjugate aller in the Present Conditional (Conditionnel Présent)

• J’iraisI would go
• Tu iraisYou would go
• Il / elle iraitHe / she would go
• Nous irionsWe would go
• Vous iriezYou would go
• Ils / elles iraientThey would go

How to conjugate aller in the Past Conditional (Conditionnel Passé)

• Je serais allé(e)I would have gone
• Tu serais allé(e)You would have gone
• Il serait alléHe would have gone
• Elle serait alléeShe would have gone
• Nous serions allé(e)sWe would have gone
• Vous seriez allé(e)(s)You would have gone
• Ils seraient allésThey would have gone
• Elles seraient alléesThey would have gone

How to conjugate aller in Participe

• Présentallant
• Passéallé(e)(s)
• Passé Composéetant allé(e)(s)

How to conjugate ALLER in the Imperative Mood (Impératif)

How to conjugate ALLER in the Infinitive Mood (Infinitif)

Quick Exercise – fill in the blanks

1. Je _____ chez le dentiste.

2. Nous _____ à la plage chaque weekend.

3. Comment _______ – vous?

4. Le vin blanc ______ bien avec le poulet..

5. S’il fait beau, j’______ en ville demain.

6. Il faut que j’______ à la messe dimanche matin.

7. _______ plus lentement, les enfants.

8. Ils sont _____ à l’étranger l’an dernier.

Conclusion

As one of the top three most commonly used verbs in French, you really do need to learn ALLER conjugation thoroughly. It will reap huge rewards when you do. And even though this is one of the most irregular verb forms, it is true that the more verbs you learn, the more you’ll see patterns that help you easily memorize even highly irregular verbs like ALLER.

If you thought learning verbs meant learning by rote and chanting your way through them, you’re mistaken. You can easily and naturally get them set in your memory if you use the audio drills every day.