The future tense - Easy Learning Grammar Spanish
The future tense is a verb tense used to talk about something that will happen or will be true in the future, for example, He’ll be here soon; I’ll give you a call; What will you do?; It will be sunny tomorrow.
1 Ways of talking about the future
- In Spanish, just as in English, you can often use the present tense to refer to something that is going to happen in the future.
| Cogemos el tren de las once. | We’re getting the eleven o’clock train. |
| Mañana voy a Madrid. | I am going to Madrid tomorrow. |
- In English we often use going to with an infinitive to talk about the immediate future or our future plans. In Spanish, you can use the present tense of ir followed by a and an infinitive.
| Va a perder el tren. | He’s going to miss the train. |
| Va a llevar una media hora. | It’s going to take about half an hour. |
| Voy a hacerlo mañana. | I’m going to do it tomorrow. |
2 Forming the future tense
- In English we can form the future tense by putting will or its shortened form ’ll before the verb. In Spanish you have to change the verb endings. So, just as hablo means I speak, hablaré means I will speak or I shall speak.
- To form the future tense of regular -ar, -er and -ir verbs, add the following endings to the infinitive of the verb: -é, -ás, -á, -emos, -éis, -án.
- The following table shows the future tense of three regular verbs: hablar (meaning to speak), comer (meaning to eat) and vivir (meaning to live).
| (yo) | hablaré | comeré | viviré | I’ll speak/eat/live |
| (tú) | hablarás | comerás | vivirás | you’ll speak/eat/live |
| (él) (ella) (usted) | hablará | comerá | vivirá | he’ll speak/eat/live she’ll speak/eat/live it’ll speak/eat/live you’ll speak/eat/live |
| (nosotros/nosotras) | hablaremos | comeremos | viviremos | we’ll speak/eat/live |
| (vosotros/vosotras) | hablaréis | comeréis | viviréis | you’ll speak/eat/live |
| (ellos/ellas/ustedes) | hablarán | comerán | vivirán | they’ll/you’ll speak/eat/live |
| Hablaré con ella. | I’ll speak to her. |
| Comeremos en casa de José. | We’ll eat at José’s. |
| No volverá. | He won’t come back. |
| ¿Lo entenderás? | Will you understand it? |
- Note that in the future tense only the nosotros/nosotras form doesn’t have an accent.
TipRemember that Spanish has no direct equivalent of the word will in verb forms like will rain or will look and so on. You change the Spanish verb ending instead to form the future tense.
Grammar Extra!In English, we sometimes use will with the meaning of be willing to rather than simply to express the future, for example, Will you wait for me a moment? In Spanish you don’t use the future tense to say this; you use the verb querer (meaning to want) instead.
| ¿Me quieres esperar un momento, por favor? | Will you wait for me a moment, please? |
3 Verbs with irregular stems in the future tense
- There are a few verbs that do not use their infinitives as the stem for the future tense. Here are some of the most common.
| Verb | Stem | (yo) | (tú) | (él) (ella) (usted) | (nosotros) (nosotras) | (vosotros) (vosotras) | (ellos) (ellas) (ustedes) |
| decir to say | dir- | diré | dirás | dirá | diremos | diréis | dirán |
| haber to have | habr- | habré | habrás | habrá | habremos | habréis | habrán |
| hacer to do/make | har- | haré | harás | hará | haremos | haréis | harán |
| poder to be able to | podr- | podré | podrás | podrá | podremos | podréis | podrán |
| poner to put | pondr- | pondré | pondrás | pondrá | pondremos | pondréis | pondrán |
| querer to want | querr- | querré | querrás | querrá | querremos | querréis | querrán |
| saber to know | sabr- | sabré | sabrás | sabrá | sabremos | sabréis | sabrán |
| salir to leave | saldr- | saldré | saldrás | saldrá | saldremos | saldréis | saldrán |
| tener to have | tendr- | tendré | tendrás | tendrá | tendremos | tendréis | tendrán |
| venir to come | vendr- | vendré | vendrás | vendrá | vendremos | vendréis | vendrán |
| Lo haré mañana. | I’ll do it tomorrow. |
| No podremos hacerlo. | We won’t be able to do it. |
| Lo pondré aquí. | I’ll put it here. |
| Saldrán por la mañana. | They’ll leave in the morning. |
| ¿A qué hora vendrás? | What time will you come? |
- Note that the verb haber is only used when forming other tenses, such as the perfect tense, and in the expression hay (meaning there is or there are).
- For more information on the Perfect tense and on hay, see The perfect tense.
4 Reflexive verbs in the future tense
- The future tense of reflexive verbs is formed in just the same way as for ordinary verbs, except that you have to remember to give the reflexive pronoun (me, te, se, nos, os, se).
| Me levantaré temprano. | I’ll get up early. |
Key points
- You can use a present tense in Spanish to talk about something that will happen or be true, just as in English.
- You can use ir a with an infinitive to talk about things that will happen in the immediate future.
- In Spanish there is no direct equivalent of the word will in verb forms like will rain and will look. You change the verb endings instead.
- To form the future tense, add the endings -é, -ás, á, -emos, -éis,-án to the infinitive.
- Some verbs have irregular stems in the future tense. It is worth learning these.