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The line is from the song Carmen by Stromae;

Et s’il le faut j’irais m’venger moi

Two questions:

  1. Why "aller" in the future tense? "Je vais aller faire qqc" already implies that you will do something in the future?

  2. Why the second "Moi"? If "se venger" means to "avenge oneself", why isn't it just "J'irais me venger"?

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  • 1
    Just a side note: it's conditionnal present, not future.
    – Toto
    Dec 14, 2015 at 11:32
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    @Toto, irais est bien du conditionnel, mais ici il faut le futur, pas le conditionnel.
    – Un francophone
    Dec 14, 2015 at 12:16

1 Answer 1

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  1. Although aller is used as an auxiliary marking a kind of future, it is also a verb whose meaning is to go. So here j'irai me venger means I'll go and avenge myself and not I'll avenge myself.

  2. It's just a way to put emphasis, somewhat hinting that others may not do that but that he, he'll do it.

Note: j’irais is the form for the conditional and here we are in a context were the conditional makes little sense, it is most probably the futur j'irai (depending on the accent, both are pronounced the same, personally, the final vowels are [ɛ] and [e]).

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  • Oh, so it simply means "I'll go and avenge myself" I thought it uses aller as an auxiliary and had put it in the future tense. Thank you very much!
    – noam b
    Dec 14, 2015 at 10:14

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