Breakdown of Quand j’aurai répondu à toutes mes lettres, je fermerai l’ordinateur pour me reposer.
Questions & Answers about Quand j’aurai répondu à toutes mes lettres, je fermerai l’ordinateur pour me reposer.
In French, after time conjunctions like quand, lorsque, dès que, aussitôt que, you normally use a future or future perfect if you are talking about a future event.
So:
- Quand j’aurai répondu à toutes mes lettres, je fermerai l’ordinateur…
- j’aurai répondu = future perfect (futur antérieur)
- je fermerai = simple future (futur simple)
In English, we often use present perfect in the time clause:
- When I have replied to all my letters, I will shut down the computer.
But in French, using the present or present perfect here (Quand j’ai répondu…) to talk about a future sequence is not correct. You must keep it in the future.
J’aurai répondu is the futur antérieur (future perfect).
Form:
- avoir in the future tense (j’aurai)
- past participle (répondu)
Use: The futur antérieur expresses an action that:
- Will be completed in the future,
- Before another future action.
Here:
- j’aurai répondu à toutes mes lettres = the replying will be finished first.
- je fermerai l’ordinateur = this will happen afterwards.
So it has the idea: “Once I have finished replying (by that future moment), I will then close the computer.”
Because the verb répondre in French is constructed with the preposition à:
- répondre à quelqu’un = to answer someone
- répondre à quelque chose = to answer something / to reply to something
So you must say:
- répondre à toutes mes lettres
(to reply to all my letters)
Saying “répondre toutes mes lettres” is incorrect in standard French; the à is obligatory when you specify what you are answering.
Because lettres is:
- feminine
- plural
So the adjective tout must agree in gender and number with the noun:
- tout (masc. sing.) → tout le livre
- tous (masc. pl.) → tous les livres
- toute (fem. sing.) → toute la lettre
- toutes (fem. pl.) → toutes les lettres, toutes mes lettres
Here, lettres is feminine plural, so we need toutes.
No, répondu does not change here; it stays répondu for all subjects (masculine or feminine, singular or plural).
Reason:
- The auxiliary is avoir (j’aurai).
- The past participle with avoir only agrees with a direct object that comes before the verb.
- In répondre à toutes mes lettres, à toutes mes lettres is an indirect object (introduced by à).
So:
- No direct object before the verb → no agreement.
- Correct for anyone: j’aurai répondu.
Both are possible, but they have slightly different feels:
je fermerai l’ordinateur
→ simple future (futur simple), neutral, standard written and spoken future.je vais fermer l’ordinateur
→ aller- infinitive (near future), often used in speech, can sound a bit more immediate or conversational.
In this sentence, pairing futur antérieur (j’aurai répondu) with futur simple (je fermerai) is very natural and typical in written French. Using je vais fermer would not be wrong, but the style is more informal and the symmetry of the two future tenses is lost.
Both can be used, but they don’t always mean exactly the same thing:
fermer l’ordinateur
Literally to close the computer. Depending on context, this can mean:- physically closing a laptop, or
- ending your computer session (less technical).
éteindre l’ordinateur
Literally to switch off the computer, i.e. to power it down.
If the person really means “turn it off”, éteindre l’ordinateur is more precise.
In everyday speech, though, fermer l’ordinateur is often understood as “finish using it and close it/shut it down,” especially with laptops.
Because the verb here is se reposer = to rest, to rest oneself, a reflexive verb.
- reposer alone means to put back, to lay down, to rest something.
- se reposer means to rest (oneself).
In the infinitive form, the reflexive pronoun (here me) must still be present:
- pour me reposer = in order to rest / to have a rest (myself).
If you said pour reposer, it would mean “in order to rest (something)” and would sound incomplete without a direct object.
With a conjugated verb + infinitive construction, object and reflexive pronouns go before the infinitive, not before the conjugated verb:
- Je veux me reposer. (I want to rest.)
- Je vais le faire. (I am going to do it.)
- Je décide de m’arrêter. (I decide to stop myself.)
In pour me reposer:
- pour
- infinitive: reposer
- the reflexive pronoun me is therefore placed right before reposer: me reposer.
Putting it before pour or earlier would be ungrammatical:
✗ pour reposer me → incorrect.
Here pour introduces a purpose or intention: “in order to / so as to”.
- pour me reposer = to rest / in order to rest.
You can also use:
- afin de me reposer – a bit more formal or explicit.
- pour que je me repose – but here the structure changes: you need subjunctive and a full clause:
- … je fermerai l’ordinateur pour que je me repose.
In this short, direct sentence, pour me reposer is the most natural way to express the purpose.
Both are grammatically possible but they’re not identical:
Quand j’aurai répondu à toutes mes lettres, je fermerai l’ordinateur…
Neutral, very common. Focus on “when that moment comes (once it’s done), then I’ll…”.Après que j’aurai répondu à toutes mes lettres, je fermerai l’ordinateur…
Emphasises after rather than when; it sounds slightly more formal and heavier in style.
In practice, quand is more frequent in everyday speech for this kind of sequence.
Note: with après que, the indicative (here: future perfect) is correct; sometimes you’ll hear the subjunctive, but that’s considered incorrect by traditional grammar.
No, not if you’re talking about a future situation.
- Quand j’ai répondu… is a past time frame: “When I replied…”
It would be understood as referring to something that already happened.
To express a future sequence introduced by quand, French requires:
- future (or future perfect) in the quand-clause, and
- future in the main clause.
So you need:
- Quand j’aurai répondu…, je fermerai…
Because je is followed by a word beginning with a vowel sound (aurai), and French normally avoids having two vowel sounds collide.
- je + aurai → j’aurai
This is a regular elision:
- je aime → j’aime
- je habite → j’habite
- je ai → j’ai
The apostrophe (j’) shows that a vowel has been dropped to make pronunciation smoother.