Nous allons passer une soirée formidable ensemble.

We are going to spend a wonderful evening together.

Breakdown of Nous allons passer une soirée formidable ensemble.

• nous: we
• ensemble: together
• aller: to go
• la soirée: the evening

Questions & Answers about Nous allons passer une soirée formidable ensemble.

Why is allons passer used here instead of a single future verb like passerons?

Nous allons passer is the near future in French: aller + infinitive.

• nous allons passer = we are going to spend / we’re going to have
• nous passerons = we will spend

Both can work, but nous allons passer often sounds a bit more immediate or natural in everyday speech, especially when talking about a plan or expectation.

So this sentence feels like:

• We’re going to have a wonderful evening together

rather than a more neutral or formal:

• We will have a wonderful evening together

What exactly does passer une soirée mean?

Here, passer means to spend in the sense of spending time.

So:

• passer une soirée = to spend an evening
• more naturally in English, often to have an evening

Examples:

• passer une journée = to spend a day
• passer de bonnes vacances = to have/spend a good vacation

So even though passer often means to pass, in this context it means to spend time.

Why is it une soirée and not ?