A2
The simple future
How the Spanish simple future is formed, its irregular stems, and its common use for speculation about the present.
The endings go onto the whole infinitive, not a stem. One set for all three verb families.
| hablaré | I will speak |
| hablarás | |
| hablará | |
| hablaremos | |
| hablaréis | |
| hablarán |
Every form except hablaremos carries an accent.
Mañana hablaré con él.
tomorrow I-will-speak with him
I’ll speak to him tomorrow.
The irregular stems
Twelve verbs shorten or alter the infinitive. The endings never change.
| tener → tendré | |
| poner → pondré | |
| venir → vendré | |
| salir → saldré | |
| poder → podré | |
| saber → sabré | |
| hacer → haré | |
| decir → diré | |
| querer → querré | |
| haber → habré |
No podré ir.
not I-will-be-able to-go
I won’t be able to go.
It is often a guess about now
This use is at least as common as the future itself, and has no English equivalent beyond must be or I wonder.
¿Qué hora será?
what hour will-be
I wonder what time it is.
Estará en casa.
he-will-be at home
He’s probably at home.
Nothing about the future is involved. Spanish uses the tense to mark uncertainty about the present.
Against ir a
For plans and anything close, ir a is what people say — see ir a + infinitive. The simple future suits the distant, the formal, and promises.
Never after cuando
English keeps the present after when; Spanish takes the subjunctive, and the future is wrong in both languages.
Cuando llegaré, te llamaré.
Cuando llegue, te llamaré.
Cuando pointing at the future takes the subjunctive. The same applies to en cuanto, hasta que and antes de que. Only the main clause keeps the future.