Learn French: Quand les travailleurs manifesteront, ils descendront dans la rue. - When the workers demonstrate, they will go down into the street.

Quand les travailleurs manifesteront, ils descendront dans la rue.

When the workers demonstrate, they will go down into the street.

Breakdown of Quand les travailleurs manifesteront, ils descendront dans la rue.

ils

they (masculine/mixed)

Questions & Answers about Quand les travailleurs manifesteront, ils descendront dans la rue.

Why does the French sentence use the future tense (manifesteront) when the English translation uses the present tense ("demonstrate")?

This is a major difference between French and English! When a sentence describes an event that will happen in the future, French requires the future tense after time words like quand (when), lorsque (when), and dès que (as soon as). English uses the present tense ("When they demonstrate"), but French strictly uses the future: Quand ils manifesteront.

Is "descendre dans la rue" a common expression for protesting?

Yes! While it literally translates to "go down into the street," it is the standard French idiom for "taking to the streets" to protest or strike. You'll see this phrase very often in French news.

How do you form the future tense for an "-re" verb like descendre?

To form the futur simple for regular "-re" verbs, you take the infinitive and drop the final e to make your stem. For descendre, the stem becomes descendr-. Then, add the regular future endings. For ils, the ending is -ont, giving us descendront.

Could I use "lorsque" instead of "quand" in this sentence?