Notre équipe travaille sur un projet important le mois prochain.

Sentence Discussions French
#1
English Translation

Our team is working on an important project next month.

The English translation makes no sense. You can’t be working on something next month. It should be will be.

#2
English Translation

Our team is working on an important project next month.

I am not a French speaker. My understanding is that the present tense can be used if the future action is very near or if the time frame is clear. My understanding is that the future tense would also be correct.

We do the same in English. We might say: I am travelling to Europe next month. Everybody understands that you are not doing it this minute, but you will be doing it next month. Time frame is clear.

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#3

Indeed, we can use the present tense to talk about a future event/action.

We use it mostly when the event is in the near future, for instance:

  • Vous êtes disponible samedi?

  • Je suis là dans deux minutes!

  • Je reviens tout de suite!

  • Il vient ce weekend.

  • Mes parents arrivent demain.

We can also use it if (we think) the future event is certain:

  • Je vais au ski cet hiver.

  • Il part à la retraite l’année prochaine.

And this random example came to mind:

  • On en reparle dans six mois. (It could be any length of time really. Also, using the future tense (“reparlera”) would be perfectly fine, but so is using the present tense.)

Would I use the present tense in this (clozemaster) sentence? I think it really depends on context. Without any context, I prefer the future tense.

I think the verb that is used also matters:

  • “Notre équipe débute/commence un nouveau projet le mois prochain.”, would sound less weird to me, even without any context.

You can look up “les valeurs du présent” if you guys are curious.

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#4

I had pictured myself at work saying, “I’m going to Europe next month.“ In my mind, it was a very emphatic tone. (I’m going, and you can’t stop me.)

I know this isn’t true in other countries, but here in the US it can be hard to take vacation. My spouse laughs when I say I have good vacation time at my job, because it is almost impossible to take. So the future being certain rang a bell. Thanks for the discussion.

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