The Future Tense in Spanish

The future tense is used to tell what “will” happen, or what “shall” happen.

I will go to the beach next month.

I shall write the letter next week.

But, the future tense is not used to express a willingness to do something. For this, use the verb “querer.”

¿Quieres ir a la tienda?
Will you go to the store?

The future tense is also used to express wonder or probability in the present state.

¿Quién será ella?
I wonder who she is? (Who could she be?)

Estará viajando solo.
He is probably traveling alone.

For actions that will occur in the near future, the present tense is more commonly used.

Esta noche voy al cine.
Tonight I’m going to the movies.

Further in the future, use the future tense.

El año que viene iré a España.
Next year I’m going to Spain.

Regular verbs in the future tense are conjugated by adding the following endings to the infinitive form of the verb: -é, -ás, -á, -emos, -éis, -án.

hablaré
hablarás
hablará
hablaremos
hablaréis
hablarán

There are twelve common verbs that are irregular in the future tense. Their endings are regular, but their stems change. Since the endings are the same as all other future tense verbs, we show only the “yo” form, and have put the irregular stem in bold. We have also grouped them according to their patterns of change.

Note that compound verbs based on the irregular verbs inherit the same irregularities. Here are a few examples:

desquerer
yo desquerré

resaber
yo resabré

anteponer
yo antepondré

mantener
yo mantendré

prevaler
yo prevaldré