Let’s be real. If you’ve spent more than five minutes trying to learn French, you’ve probably realized that the verb aller is a total nightmare. It’s arguably the most used word in the entire language, yet it refuses to follow any of the rules. You look at it and see "a-l-l-e-r," but then you try to say "I go" and suddenly you’re saying je vais. Where did the 'v' come from? Nobody knows. It's just there.
French verbs usually play nice. You take a regular -er verb like parler, chop off the ending, and add your bits and pieces. Not aller. It’s an irregular verb from the third group, and it acts like a rebel without a cause. It borrows its forms from three different Latin verbs (ambulare, vadere, and ire), which is why it looks like a Frankenstein’s monster of linguistics.
Learning the conjugation of verb aller isn't just a grammar exercise. It’s your ticket to actually speaking French like a human being. Without it, you can’t say where you’re going, how you’re doing, or even what you’re about to do in five minutes. It’s the engine of the language.
The Present Tense: Where Things Get Weird Fast
Most students start here. You have to. If you can't handle the present tense, you're stuck.
The singular forms are the most jarring. Je vais, tu vas, il va. It feels more like Spanish than French for a second there. Then you hit the plural forms, and suddenly the "all-" root comes back from the dead. Nous allons and vous allez. It’s a bit of a relief, honestly. But then, just to mess with you one last time, the third-person plural becomes ils vont.
Why? Because French loves to keep you on your toes.
When you’re using these in real life, you’ll notice the liaison is everything. In nous allons (noo-za-loh), that 's' at the end of nous turns into a 'z' sound because it’s hitting the vowel in allons. If you skip that, you sound like a textbook. If you do it, you sound like you’ve actually spent time in a Parisian café.
Common mistakes? People always try to say je va. Don't do that. It sounds painful to a native ear. It's always je vais. Also, watch out for va versus vas. They sound identical, but that 's' is strictly for your friend tu.
Looking Into the Future and the Past
If you thought the present was a mess, let’s talk about the future. The stem for the future tense of aller is ir-.
J'irai. Tu iras. Nous irons.
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It’s completely disconnected from the word aller visually. This comes from the Latin ire, and it’s actually one of the more consistent parts of the verb once you accept that the "all" part is gone. You use this for long-term plans. "I will go to France next year" is J'irai en France l'année prochaine.
But here’s a pro tip: French speakers are lazy. Just like us.
We rarely use the formal future tense in daily conversation. Instead, we use the futur proche (near future). This is where aller becomes your best friend. You just take the present tense of aller and slap an infinitive after it.
Je vais manger. (I am going to eat.)
Nous allons partir. (We are going to leave.)
It’s the easiest way to talk about the future without memorizing twenty different endings. Honestly, you can survive 90% of conversations just using this structure. It’s a cheat code.
Then we have the passé composé. This is where the "DR & MRS VANDERTRAMP" acronym comes in. Since aller is a verb of movement, it doesn't use avoir as an auxiliary. It uses être.
Je suis allé.
Elle est allée.
Notice that extra 'e'? Because we're using être, the past participle has to agree with the subject. If you’re a woman, you add an 'e'. If you’re a group of people, you add an 's'. It’s a tiny detail that makes a huge difference in writing.
The Command Form and the Subjunctive Trap
Let’s talk about the Imperative. This is how you tell someone to "Go!"
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The forms are va, allons, and allez. Simple, right? Mostly. But there’s a weird quirk when you use the pronoun y (meaning "there"). Usually, you say Va! (Go!). But if you want to say "Go there!", it becomes Vas-y! That 's' magically reappears just to make the pronunciation smoother. Va-y would sound like a glottal stop disaster, so the French inserted an 's' to bridge the gap. It’s all about the flow.
And then... the Subjunctive.
Most learners hit the subjunctive and want to quit. For aller, the stem becomes aill-.
Il faut que j'aille. (It is necessary that I go.)
It sounds like "eye." It’s used for doubt, necessity, or emotion. If you're just starting out, don't stress this too much. But if you want to sound sophisticated, mastering que j'aille and que nous allions is the way to go.
How Aller Changes Its Meaning
One thing people get wrong is thinking aller only means "to go" in a physical sense. It doesn't.
Think about the most basic French greeting: Comment ça va? You’re literally asking "How is it going?"
If you respond Je vais bien, you aren't saying you're walking well. You're saying you're doing well. In this context, the conjugation of verb aller describes your state of being or health.
It also pops up in idiomatic expressions that make no sense if you translate them literally.
Aller à ravir means to suit someone perfectly (usually clothes).
S'en aller means to leave or go away.
Aller de soi means something is self-evident or goes without saying.
If you try to translate these word-for-word, you’ll end up confused. You have to learn them as set chunks of language.
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Practical Strategies for Memorization
You can’t just stare at a conjugation table and hope for the best. Your brain doesn't work that way.
First, stop trying to learn every tense at once. Start with the present tense and the futur proche. That’s your foundation. Use them until they’re muscle memory.
Write sentences about your own life. Don't write "The boy goes to the park." That's boring. Write "I'm going to the fridge because I'm hungry" (Je vais au frigo parce que j'ai faim). Personal connection helps the brain "stick" the grammar.
Listen to French music or watch Netflix with French subtitles. You will hear aller every thirty seconds. Pay attention to how on va is used instead of nous allons. In modern, casual French, on has almost completely replaced nous.
On va au ciné? (Are we going to the movies?)
It’s shorter, faster, and way more common. If you spend all your time practicing nous allons, you’ll sound like a 19th-century novelist. There’s a time and place for that, but it’s probably not at a bar in Bordeaux.
Actionable Next Steps
To truly internalize this, you need to move beyond passive reading.
- The 24-Hour Rule: For the next 24 hours, every time you move from one room to another, say out loud what you are doing using the futur proche. "Je vais aller dans la cuisine." "Je vais aller dormir."
- Focus on the "Y": Practice the phrase On y va! (Let's go!). It uses the pronoun y and the present tense. It’s one of the most versatile phrases in the language.
- Master the Être connection: Write down five places you went yesterday. Use Je suis allé(e) à... and make sure you check your agreement.
- Ditch the "Nous" for a day: Try using on for all your plural "going" sentences. It feels weird at first, but it will make your French sound 100% more natural.
The conjugation of verb aller is a hurdle, but it's not a wall. Once you get past the irregular stems and the weird future forms, you'll find that it's the most useful tool in your linguistic belt. Just keep moving forward—or as the French would say, allez, allez!