The Future Tense

Year 12

What is the future tense?

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.

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 on to happen in the future.

Cogemos el tren de las onceWe’re getting the eleven o’clock train

Mañana voy a MadridI 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 trenHe’s going to miss the train

Va a llevar una media horaIt’s going to take about half an hour.

Voy a hacerlo mañanaI’m going to do it tomorrow.

Forming the future tenseIn 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, -á, -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

tu hablarás comerás vivirás

el / ella Hablará comerá vivirá

nosotros hablaremoscomeremos

viviremos

vosotros hablaréis comeréis viviréis

ellos / ellas hablarán comerán vivirán

Key Points You can use the 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.

Om 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, ass 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.

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).