Future Tense: Spanish Guide to Talk About Tomorrow

Mastering the future tense in Spanish can seem like a big challenge, but it’s easier than you think! This guide is here to make it simple and fun. By exploring regular and irregular verbs, you’ll see patterns that help you predict how to use them.

We’ll also dive into the most common time phrases you’ll need. Imagine talking about your plans for next week or predicting the weather—it’s all within your reach. Whether you’re just starting out or fine-tuning your skills, this guide will boost your confidence in using the future tense in Spanish conversations. Let’s make learning exciting and approachable!

What Is The Spanish Future Simple?

The Spanish Future Simple tense, know in Spanish as “Futuro Simple,” is used to describe actions that will happen in the future. It’s a straightforward tense formed by adding specific endings to the infinitive form of the verb. For example, “hablaré” means “I will speak.” This tense is essential for expressing future intentions, predictions, and promises in Spanish.

3 Effective Ways to Express the Future Tense in Spanish

1. Future tense in Spanish with ir a + infinitive (Informal Future)

This form is commonly used in the Spanish future tense to speak about immediate future actions, similar to “going to” sentences in English.

To structure a simple future sentence in this form we use the verb “ir” in the present tense + the preposition “a” and an infinitive verb, which will describe the action to perform. (ir a + infinitive) Remember, an infinitive is the base form of the verb.

This is how to conjugate it:

1. Voy a comprar una camisa morada; a ella le gusta ese color: I’m going to buy a purple shirt, she likes that color.
2. Mis amigos dijeron que le gustan los animales. Entonces, voy a contar historias sobre mi perro: My friends told me she likes animals. So, I’m going to tell stories about my dog.
3. No puedo dejar oportunidad a otros, voy a bailar con ella toda la noche: I can’t allow others to have a chance, I’m going to dance with her the whole evening.
4. Finalmente, voy a hablar sobre las cosas que le interesan: Finally, I’m going to talk about the things she’s interested in.

In order to use the future tense with the verb “ir” it’s got to be followed by the preposition “a”. If not, it will denote a movement in the present tense, it would mean that you’re heading to a place.

• Hoy Miguel va a hablar sobre la vida en Marte: Today Miguel’s going to talk about life on Mars.
• Miguel va al supermercado: Miguel’s going to the supermarket.

2. Spanish Future Tense ir a + infinitive with reflexive verbs (Informal Future)

In Spanish grammar, a reflexive verb is used when a verb whose direct object is the same as its subject. Reflexive verbs are not formed in Spanish the same way as in English.

In Spanish, there are two ways to add the reflexive particle to form the future tense, and in both ways we can use regular and irregular verbs.

Notice that the reflexive particle can change its place in the sentence. It can either be placed at the beginning or as an ending in the verb.

3. Simple Spanish Future Tense

The Simple Future tense in Spanish is used to describe events that will or shall happen in the future but with no specific point in time indicated, they might be occurring in the near or distant future. Unlike the Informal Future, to form the Future Simple tense we only conjugate regular and irregular verbs in the future we add a particular ending to the verb in its infinitive form depending on the subject.

• Cuando sea grande, seré un astronauta: When I grow up, I’ll be an astronaut.

The English equivalent would be a sentence made with the auxiliary verb “will”. In Spanish, we use this simple future tense to talk about intentions, predictions, and suppositions.

When to use Simple Future in Spanish?

1. To express the intention of performing an action in the future

• Lavaré mi ropa mañana o pasado mañana: I’ll do my laundry tomorrow or after tomorrow.
• Me pondré a trabajar más tarde, quiero más tiempo para mí: I’ll work later, I want some more me time.
• Limpiaré mi casa uno de estos días: I’ll clean my house one of these days.

2. To speak about predictions, probabilities, possibilities and conjectures

• No podrás venir a tiempo al juego si saldrás a pie: You won’t be able to come to the game on time if you leave on foot.
• Veré Marte de cerca algún día: I’ll see Mars up close someday.
• Creo que no hablaré: I think I won’t talk.

3. To talk about suppositions in the present

• Asumo que no dejarás la escuela: I assume you won’t leave the school.
• Imagino que trabajarás en el futuro: I imagine you’ll work in the future.
• Quizás no terminaré las conjugaciones: I may not be able to finish all the conjugations.

Regular Verbs in the Simple Future Tense in Spanish

We have three types of regular verbs in Spanish that we categorize according to their endings: –ar, –er and –ir verbs. Here are some examples of regular verbs conjugated in the simple future  tense:

Future Tense Spanish -Ar Verbs

With -Er endings

With -Ir endings

Notice the stem verb remains the same in its infinitive form and we recognize they are in the simple future tense by following endings added after –ar, –er, and –ir.

Irregular Verbs in the Simple Future Tense in Spanish

For irregular verbs in the future tense Spanish, you’ll notice in the following table that for some of them,

Some verbs like “Decir” will change their root from “Dec” to “Dir”, for example:

• Diré unas palabras en el discurso de inauguración: I’ll say a few words in the inaugural speech.

Others like “Saber” will change their stem from “Sab” to “Sabr”, and “Tener” from “Ten” to “Tend”. The rest is just following the rules we use for regular verbs.

• Sabré organizar mi tiempo para la asignación de mañana: I’ll know how to organize my time for tomorrow ‘s assignment.
• Tendré que organizar mi tiempo mejor para la nueva asignación: I’ll have to organize my time better for the new assignment.

Use the verb “haber” in the simple present tense to form impersonal sentences and as an auxiliary verb for the future perfect tense.

12 Time Markers to talk about future in Spanish

In the Spanish future tense, many phrases can be used interchangeably without a difference in meaning. For instance, some people might replace “que viene” with another word. Let’s take a look at some of the most commonly used time phrases related to the future tense in Spanish:

• Mañana: Tomorrow
• Pasado mañana: The day after tomorrow
• La semana que viene or La semana próxima: Next week
• El mes que viene or El mes próximo: Next month
• El año que viene or El año próximo: Next year
• Nunca: Never
• Algún día: Someday
• Uno de estos días: One of these days
• Más tarde: Later
• En un rato: In a while
• Pronto: Soon
• Esta noche: Tonight

Keep in mind that mastering irregular verb conjugations in Spanish takes time. The more you use them, the faster they will stick with you. The best way to practice is to consistently engage in conversations.

Learn Spanish Now

Listen carefully to how native people speak using different tenses. Also, watching TV series, and enjoying music in the target language will greatly boost your learning process.

As with all education, you’ll only remember what you learn when you put it into practice. If you don’t have anyone to practice with, we invite you to try a free private class or sign up for a free 7-day trial of our group classes, and see why thousands of students trust SpanishVIP!

See you next time!