You already met these three verbs together in the present tense, in our pouvoir, vouloir & devoir lesson. In the futur simple they keep the same family resemblance, just with new, longer stems.
1. Pouvoir: stem pourr-
| Je pourrai t'aider demain. | I'll be able to help you tomorrow. |
| Vous pourrez partir tôt. | You'll be able to leave early. |
2. Vouloir: stem voudr-
| Elle voudra sûrement venir. | She'll surely want to come. |
| Ils voudront en savoir plus. | They'll want to know more. |
Watch out: je voudrai (futur simple: I will want) is easy to confuse with
je voudrais (conditionnel, from our
earlier lesson: I would like). Only one letter apart, but very different in meaning and much rarer in everyday use,
je voudrais is what you'll actually reach for most of the time.
3. Devoir: stem devr-
| Tu devras partir avant minuit. | You'll have to leave before midnight. |
| Nous devrons attendre. | We'll have to wait. |
4. Conjugation: pouvoir, vouloir & devoir
| Pronoun | Pouvoir | Vouloir | Devoir |
|---|
| je / j' | pourrai | voudrai | devrai |
| tu | pourras | voudras | devras |
| il / elle / on | pourra | voudra | devra |
| nous | pourrons | voudrons | devrons |
| vous | pourrez | voudrez | devrez |
| ils / elles | pourront | voudront | devront |