Future tense

The future tense is roughly equivalent to English will ... (or 'll ...). As with English will, the Spanish future tense can be used not only to express a future event or state, but also for other "modal" uses such as expressing or implying a supposition, prediction, approximation or command. It is often argued that in spoken Spanish at least, these "modal" uses represent the most common use of the future tense and that simple 'futurity' is instead expressed by other means, such as ir a plus infinitive1.

The vast majority of verbs form the future tense by adding the future tense endings, which are the same for all verbs, to the infinitive. The future tense endings are similar to the present tense of haber (and historically this is how the future tense is derived):

PersonFuture tense endingExample: hablarExample: ser
(yo)hablaré
I'll speak
seré
I'll be
(tú)-áshablarás
you'll speak
serás
you'll be
(él)hablará
he/she'll speak
será
he/she/it'll be
(nosotros)-emoshablaremos
we'll speak
seremos
we'll be
(vosotros)-éishablaréis
you'll (all) speak
seréis
you'll (all) be
(ellos)-ánhablarán
they'll speak, you'll (all) speak
serán
they'll (all) be, you'll (all) be
Future tense formation in Spanish

Pronunciation

The word stress is always "anchored" on the first syllable of the future tense ending, as reflected by the written accent on the one-syllable endings.

Irregular future tense forms

A handful of verbs add the above future tense endings to a modified version of the infinitive. Some common irregular future tenses include:

VerbFuture stemExample
hacer
to do/make
har-haré
he/she/it'll do/make
tener
to have
tendr-tendré
I'll have
poder
to be able (to)
podr-podré
I'll be able (to)
poner
to put
pondr-pondré
I'll put
saber
to know
sabr-sabrá
he/she'll know
salir
to leave
saldr-saldré
I'll leave
querer
to want; to love
querr-querrás
you'll want/love

Notes:
1. e.g. "the so-called 'future tense' (hablaré, vendrás) is not the most common in everyday speech" (Butt & Benjamin, 2000:213); "Notice [...] that temporal future reference is expressed by the periphrastic ir a + infinitive. This is the standard future construction, especially for near-future reference." (Zagona, 2002:33).


Page written by Neil Coffey. Copyright © Javamex UK 2008.