3.1.1 Future tenses - an introduction
The future tenses in Spanish are very much alike the English ones. There are two forms of future the future I and the be-going-to future.
Example of English future tenses
future I:
I will go to Italy next month.
He will buy my car and I will be rich.
We will invite them.
be-going-to future:
I am going to go to Italy tomorrow.
He is going to buy my car and I am going to be rich.
We are going to invite them.
I will go to Italy next month.
He will buy my car and I will be rich.
We will invite them.
be-going-to future:
I am going to go to Italy tomorrow.
He is going to buy my car and I am going to be rich.
We are going to invite them.
The Spanish has also two forms of future tenses future I and ir + a + infinitive - form.
Example of Spanish future I
simple future I:
Te lo diré. = I will tell you.
Lo comprará. = He will buy it.
Les invitaremos. = We will invite them.
ir + a + inifinitve:
Te lo voy a decir. = I am going to tell you.
Lo va a comprar. = He is going to buy it.
Les vamos a invitar. = We are going to invite them.
Te lo diré. = I will tell you.
Lo comprará. = He will buy it.
Les invitaremos. = We will invite them.
ir + a + inifinitve:
Te lo voy a decir. = I am going to tell you.
Lo va a comprar. = He is going to buy it.
Les vamos a invitar. = We are going to invite them.
3.1.2 Formation of future I
The formation of the simple future I is simple. To the infinitive (unchanged) form of the verb the right endings are just appended. There is no separate form for verbs on -ar, -er or -ir.
| infinitive (unchanged form) | ending | future tense I |
|
comer
vender
recibir
insistir
tomar
comprar
|
 |
Yo voy a comer Tú vas a comer Él/Ella va a comer Nosotros vamos a comer Vosotros vais a comer Ellos/Ellas van a comer Yo voy a tomar Tú vas a tomar Él/Ella va a tomar Nosotros vamos a tomar Vosotros vais a tomar Ellos van a tomar Yo voy a insistir Tú vas a insistir Él / Ella va a insistir Nosotros vamos a insistir Vosotros vais a insistir Ellos van a insistir |
As an alternative to the genuine simple future I the construction with ir + a + Infinitiv can be used.
| form of ir | + a + | infinitive | future |
 |
a
|
comer
vender
recibir
insistir
tomar
comprar
|
Yo voy a comer Tú vas a comer Él/Ella va a comer Nosotros vamos a comer Vosotros vais a comer Ellos/Ellas van a comer Yo voy a tomar Tú vas a tomar Él/Ella va a tomar Nosotros vamos a tomar Vosotros vais a tomar Ellos van a tomar Yo voy a insistir Tú vas a insistir Él / Ella va a insistir Nosotros vamos a insistir Vosotros vais a insistir Ellos van a insistir |
3.1.3 Use of future I
The future tenses are used to express actions in the future (as the name says). Here are both types of future forms equal. The ir + a + infinitive can be substituted by simple future I and vice versa.
However, the future I can also have other meanings.
3.1.4 Simple future I as imperative
The simple future I can be used as imperative.
Example
Ahora le dejarás en paz!
= You will leave him in peace now! (Let him be!)
Ahora me dirás lo que hiciste.
= Now, you will tell me what you did! (Tell me what you did!)
= You will leave him in peace now! (Let him be!)
Ahora me dirás lo que hiciste.
= Now, you will tell me what you did! (Tell me what you did!)
3.1.5 Future tense I as expression of uncertainty
The simple future I can be used also to express uncertainty.
as we know from this very well known song
| Qué será, qué será, qué será. Qué será de mi vida, qué será Si sé mucho o no sé nada, ya mañana se verá y será, será lo que será. |
What will be will be what will be with my live will be If I know much or do not know nothing tomorrow we'll see and what will be will be. |
Example
¿Qué sabrá un puerco de aviones? Nada!
= What does a pig know about airplanes? Nothing! (What will a pig know)
¿Qué hará él en Francia?
= What might he do in France? (What he will do?)
= What does a pig know about airplanes? Nothing! (What will a pig know)
¿Qué hará él en Francia?
= What might he do in France? (What he will do?)
3.1.6 The simple future tense I as anticipation of an opinion in a discussion
With people who know how to say little with many words and whose talk is easily foreseen the discussion can be helped by anticipating the opinion of the discussion partner. This is done also in English, in Spanish it works as well.
Example
Usted dirá que los funcionarios son indispensables. = You will say that the state employees are indispensable.
3.1.7 Irregular verbs in future tense
The formation of the simple future I is with some very few verbs irregular. Irregular means that they use an own stem for the formation of the simple future I the endings themselves are regular again. Not only that some of those irregulars are quite often used the same stem is needed for the conditional. Therefore you cannot avoid them.
Irregular verbs in simple future I
| verb | stem | simple future I |
| saber | sabr | sabré, sabrás, sabrá, sabremos, sabréis, sabrán |
| poder | podr | podré, podrás, podrá, podremos, podréis, podrán |
| poner | pondr | pondré, pondrás, pondrá, pondremos, pondréis, pondrán |
| hacer | har | haré, harás, hará, haremos, haréis, harán |
| decir | dir | diré, dirás, dirá, diremos, diréis, dirán |
| salir | saldr | saldré, saldrás, saldrá, saldremos, saldréis, saldrán |
| vender | vendr | vendré, vendrás, vendrá, vendremos, vendréis, vendrán |
| tener | tendr | tendré, tendrás, tendrá, tendremos, tendréis, tendrán |
| querer | querr | querré, querrás, querrá, querremos, querréis, querrán |
| haber | habr | habré, habrás, habrá, habremos, habréis, habrán |
3.1.8 no future tense after cuando
when thinking about future tenses a sentence like the following could come to mind
incorrect: Cuando vendrás, te lo regalaré. = When you will come, I will give it to you.
That is simply wrong. If the main clause indicates, that the action is not yet realised then after cuando always, the subjuntivo has to be used. In this example the main clause (te lo regalaré) indicates that the action was not yet realised therefore it has to be subjuntivo.
the right version is
Cuando vengas, te lo regalaré. = When you come, I will give it to you.
When talking about the interrogative pronoun cuándo this does not apply. If you might remember the radio waves of long gone years...
Dime cuándo tu vendrás, cuándo, cuándo, cuándo = Tell me when you will come, when, when, when
(For those ones who had not the pleasure of ever hearing this hit, don't mind it is no loss, but it is rather valuable for grammar lessons)
To be kept in mind is that the impersonal phrases can be used in any tense also in the future tense.
Example
Habrá que decírselo.
= He will have to be told.
Habrá que gastar mucho dinero para restablecer la infrastructura.
= It will have to be spent a lot of money to reconstruct the infrastructure.
= He will have to be told.
Habrá que gastar mucho dinero para restablecer la infrastructura.
= It will have to be spent a lot of money to reconstruct the infrastructure.