Spanish 2.4. Future Tense

One informal but common way in Spanish to express the future tense in the indicative mood is by using the auxiliary verb “ir” (to go) to form “ir + a + infinitive.” For example, “Yo voy a viajar,” literally means “I go to travel,” but it is similar in purpose to the English expression “I am going to travel.” To form the informal future tense, “ir” can be used only in the simple present tense.

		-ar ending e.g., hablar	-er ending e.g., comer	-ir ending e.g., vivir
yo	voy a	hablar	comer	vivir
tú	vas a
él/ella/usted	va a
nosotros/-as	vamos a
vosotros/-as	vais a
ellos/ellas/ustedes	van a

Simple Future Tense

The formal simple future tense is also used to express events in the future and is more common in written literature. The regular verb conjugation is the same for all verb endings. Different endings must only agree with the subject pronoun.

	-ar ending hablar (to speak)	-er ending comer (to eat)	-ir ending vivir (to live)
yo	hablaré	comeré	viviré
tú	hablarás	comerás	vivirás
él/ella/usted	hablará	comerá	vivirá
nosotros/-as	hablaremos	comeremos	viviremos
vosotros/-as	hablaréis	comeréis	viviréis
ellos/ellas/ustedes	hablarán	comerán	vivirán

In addition to expressing events in the future, the simple future tense can express conjecture or possibility. For example, “La chica tendrá 15 años” (The girl might be 15 years old), “¿Dónde estará mi celular?” (Where could my cell phone be?).

Another less common use of the simple future tense is giving commands. For example, “No mentirás” (You shall/will not lie), “Te sentarás acá” (You shall/will sit here).

Irregular Verbs

There are a few irregular verbs in the simple future tense, but only twelve are common, which we will discuss here.

1. Some verbs ending in “-er” and “-ir” drop the “e” or “i” from the infinitive and add a “d.”

There are five common verbs in this category: “tener” (to have), “poner” (to put), “valer” (to value or be worth), “venir” (to come), and “salir” (to go outor to exit).

	tener tendr-	poner pondr-	valer valdr-	venir vendr-	salir saldr-
yo	tendré	pondré	valdré	vendré	saldré
tú	tendrás	pondrás	valdrás	vendrás	saldrás
él/ella/usted	tendrá	pondrá	valdrá	vendrá	saldrá
nosotros/-as	tendremos	pondremos	valdremos	vendremos	saldremos
vosotros/-as	tendréis	pondréis	valdréis	vendréis	saldréis
ellos/ellas/ustedes	tendrán	pondrán	valdrán	vendrán	saldrán

2. Some verbs ending in “-er” drop the “e” from the infinitive.

There are also five common verbs in this category: “saber” (to know), “poder” (can), “caber” (to fit), “querer” (to want), and “haber,” which is an auxiliary verb equivalent to the English auxiliary verb “have.”

	saber sabr-	poder podr-	caber cabr-	querer querr-	haber habr-
yo	sabré	podré	cabré	querré	habré
tú	sabrás	podrás	cabrás	querrás	habrás
él/ella/usted	sabrá	podrá	cabrá	querrá	habrá
nosotros/-as	sabremos	podremos	cabremos	querremos	habremos
vosotros/-as	sabréis	podréis	cabréis	querréis	habréis
ellos/ellas/ustedes	sabrán	podrán	cabrán	querrán	habrán

3. The verbs “decir” (to say) and “hacer” (to door to make) change their stem to “dir-” and “har-” to form the simple future tense conjugation.

These two verbs are irregular:

	decir dir-	hacer har-
yo	diré	haré
tú	dirás	harás
él/ella/usted	dirá	hará
nosotros/-as	diremos	haremos
vosotros/-as	diréis	haréis
ellos/ellas/ustedes	dirán	harán

Next: Possessive Adjectives & Pronouns

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