aller

Aller is a French verb meaning “to go.” It is one of the most common and irregular verbs in the language, serving multiple grammatical and idiomatic roles. Beyond its basic sense of moving from one place to another, aller is essential for forming near-future constructions and for many everyday expressions.

In the present tense, aller is highly irregular: je vais, tu vas, il va, nous allons, vous allez, ils vont. The infinitive is aller; the present participle is allant; the past participle is allé, with agreement in gender and number in compound tenses (e.g., je suis allé, elle est allée, nous sommes allés).

Aller serves as a principal verb and as a semi-auxiliary to express imminent action. In the near future tense (futur proche), it combines present tense aller with an infinitive: je vais partir, nous allons étudier demain. Its full future tense (futur simple) uses the irregular stem ir-: j’irai, tu iras, il ira, nous irons, vous irez, ils iront. The imperfect (imparfait) is allais, allais, allait, allions, alliez, allaient. The present subjunctive is aille, ailles, aille, allions, alliez, aillent. The imperative forms are va (tu), allons (nous), allez (vous).

Common uses extend beyond movement: aller bien/mal describes health or condition, s’en aller means “to go away,” aller chercher means “to go fetch,” and the phrases aller simple or aller-retour refer to one-way or round-trip tickets. Related Romance-language cognates include Spanish ir and Italian andare, reflecting a shared semantic core of movement and intent.