French Mini-Lesson

March 23, 2007
French Language Mini-Lesson: the verb aller

The French verb aller (“to go”) is used for talking about moving from one place to another: On va à la boulangerie chaque matin. = “We go to the bakery every morning.”

But it’s also used in numerous and sundry other ways. If you’ve read my story about mushroom hunting, then you know that aller aux champignons is a way to say “to go mushroom hunting.” Literally the expression means “to go to the mushrooms,” which is what you’re hoping will happen when you head out into the forest. You can also say, aller chercher des champignons. On sad days of abject failure to find more than a few scraggly specimens, this latter expression more accurately describes the frustrating quest – at least once last fall, when the too-brief cèpes season was drawing to a close, the only mushrooms I found were poisonous and even those were few and far between. Je suis allée aux champignons, je cherchais, cherchais, sans rien trouver.[I went mushroom hunting, I looked and looked, without finding a thing.]

Aller is used in numerous expressions in French. It’s used to talk about the near future, just like we use “to go” coupled with an infinitive in English: Bientôt, je vais écrire une histoire sur mon rendez-vous avec un conseiller fiscal à la Poste. = Soon I’m going to write a story about my appointment with a bank counselor at the Post Office… et vous allez en rigoler (peut-être)! And you’re going to laugh about it!

Put aller in the imparfait to talk about what you were going to do: J’allais ouvrir un compte à la Poste, mais le conseiller fiscal a été tellement bizarre que j’ai change d’avis. = I was going to open a (bank) account at the Post Office, but the personal banker was so strange that I changed my mind.

Of course you can also use the simple future form of the verb that follows aller, just like in English you can either say, “I’ll tell you the story later” or “I’m going to tell you the story later.” There’s a slight nuance between the two expressions, but they mean basically the same thing. Ditto in French: Je te raconterai l’histoire plus tard is more or less the same thing as Je vais te raconter l’histoire plus tard.

Aller has an irregular conjugation in the present tense; here’s a quick review:
je vais
tu vas
il va
elle va
on va
nous allons
vous allez
ils vont
elles vont

If you want to say that you’re not / you’re never / you’re no longer going to do something, position the negation ne pas / ne jamais / ne plus around the conjugated verb aller: Je ne vais pas ouvrir de compte à la Poste. Je ne vais jamais revoir ce conseiller fiscal. Je ne vais plus lui demander de conseils. = “I’m not going to open an account at the P.O. I’m never again going to see that personal banker. I’m no longer going to ask him for advice.” Basta!

Moving on… aller is also used in the following useful expressions (and many others not listed):

aller droit au but = to get straight to the point (no beating around the bush)
un aller simple = a one way ticket
un aller-retour = a round trip ticket
des va-et-vient = comings and goings
Ça va, ça vient. = Win some, lose some.
Qu’est-ce qui ne va pas?= What’s wrong?
Cette couleur ne te va pas. = That color doesn’t suit you.
On y va? = Shall we go? / Let’s go?
Je m’en vais. = I’m leaving.
Allez-vous-en! = Go away! / Get out of here!
Va-t’en! = Go away! / Get out of here!
Il en va de meme pour les autres.= Ditto for the others.
Plus ça va, moins ça va. = Things are going from bad to worse.
Ça va de soi. = That’s obvious.
Il va fort. = He’s exaggerating.
Il se laisse aller. = He’s letting himself go. / He’s getting lax.

Any questions? Any interesting aller expressions to share? You can email me via my web site – the address is on the top left column of this page.

Allez, ciao, à la prochaine.