Quand plus future tense

MaryC1Kwiziq community member

Quand plus future tense

Can you explain why, in the sentence "quand j'ai envie de viande", we do not have a future tense after quand?  Thank you.

Asked 3 years ago
PaulC1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor Correct answer
In French when you use words like "quand" or "lorsque" or "dès" you always have to match the tenses. So here it's all in the present tense. So in this case it's the same as in English: When (any time) I want meat I can go to the butcher. It's not like the "quand" in the future when something hasn't happened yet, which is when you have to use the future tense in French (so that's where it is different to English) e.g. When I win Lotto, I will buy a car (in English we mix tenses here and use present tense for "win" and future tense for "buy") but in French it is "Quand je gagnerai au loto, j'achèterai une voiture" (both parts of the sentence match and are in the future tense in French).

Quand plus future tense

Can you explain why, in the sentence "quand j'ai envie de viande", we do not have a future tense after quand?  Thank you.

Sign in to submit your answer

Don't have an account yet? Join today

Ask a question

Find your French level for FREE

Test your French to the CEFR standard

Find your French level
Thinking...