4 El Futuro / The Future Tense (Voy a amar) (Amaré)
El Futuro / The “ir” Future Tense (Voy a amar)
There are two future tenses in Spanish – the “ir” future tense and the “will” future tense. The “ir” Future Tense corresponds to “going to” phrases, such as “I am going to walk to the beach tomorrow”.
The “ir” future tense is made up of three parts:
ir + a + verb
The ir part tells us who is doing the action, and when. Therefore, we conjugate ir in the Present Tense:
|
Yo voy
|
Nosotros/Nosotras vamos
|
|
Tú vas
|
Vosotros/Vosotras vais
|
|
Él/Ella/Usted va
|
Ellos/Ellas/Ustedes van
|
Next, we add on the a. This doesn’t really mean anything; it connects the form of ir and the next verb together.
|
Voy a
|
Vamos a
|
|
Vas a
|
Vais a
|
|
Va a
|
Van a
|
Now, we need to add the main verb, the action that the person is going to do. We use the infinitive of the verb (the verb with its ar / er / ir ending still attached). In this example, we are going to use the verb correr (to run).
| Voy a correr | I am going to run | |
| Vas a correr | You are going to run | |
| Va a correr | He/She/You is/are going to run | |
| Vamos a correr | We are going to run | |
| Vais a correr | You (all) are going to run | |
| Van a correr | They/You are going to run |
Reflexive Verbs and the Future Tense
Reflexive verbs are made up of two parts – the main verb part, and the reflexive part. You treat reflexive verbs the same way you treat non-reflexive verbs in this tense, with only one difference.
The following is an example of the reflexive verb lavarse (to wash oneself) in the “ir” future tense. Change the reflexive part (se) depending on who is doing the action, and attach it to the end of the main verb (lavar).
|
ir
|
a
|
lavarse
|
English
|
|
voy
|
a
|
lavarme
|
I am going to wash myself
|
|
vas
|
a
|
lavarte
|
You are going to wash yourself
|
|
va
|
a
|
lavarse
|
He is going to wash himself
She is going to wash herself You are going to wash yourself |
|
vamos
|
a
|
lavarnos
|
We are going to wash ourselves
|
|
vais
|
a
|
lavaros
|
You are going to wash yourselves
|
|
van
|
a
|
lavarse
|
They are going to wash themselves
You are going to wash yourselves |
You can also put the reflexive part at the very beginning of the sentence as a separate word.
|
se
|
ir
|
a
|
lavar
|
English
|
|
me
|
voy
|
a
|
lavar
|
I am going to wash myself
|
|
te
|
vas
|
a
|
lavar
|
You are going to wash yourself
|
|
se
|
va
|
a
|
lavar
|
He is going to wash himself
She is going to wash herself You are going to wash yourself |
|
nos
|
vamos
|
a
|
lavar
|
We are going to wash ourselves
|
|
os
|
vais
|
a
|
lavar
|
You are going to wash yourselves
|
|
se
|
van
|
a
|
lavar
|
They are going to wash themselves
You are going to wash yourselves |
El Futuro / The “will” Future Tense (Amaré)
The second type of future tense in Spanish is the “will” future tense. As its name suggests, this tense is found in sentences about the future – “You will go to school tomorrow”. This tense is formed slightly differently to other tenses. The ar /er / ir ending isn’t removed from the verb before adding the tense endings. The following table shows how to conjugate regular verbs in the Future Tense:
|
Personal Pronouns
|
ar
|
er
|
ir
|
|
Verb ➡
|
hablar
|
comer
|
vivir
|
|
Yo
|
hablaré
|
comeré
|
viviré
|
|
Tú
|
hablarás
|
comerás
|
vivirás
|
|
Él/Ella/Usted
|
hablará
|
comerá
|
vivirá
|
|
Nosotros/Nosotras
|
hablaremos
|
comeremos
|
viviremos
|
|
Vosotros/Vosotras
|
hablaréis
|
comeréis
|
viviréis
|
|
Ellos/Ellas/Ustedes
|
hablarán
|
comerán
|
vivirán
|
Regardless of whether they are ar, er or ir verbs, all verbs take the same endings in the Future Tense.
The Future Tense doesn’t have many irregular verbs. Any irregular verbs all tend to follow a similar pattern.
|
Rule
|
Verb
|
Future Form
|
English
|
|
querer
|
querr-
|
to want
|
| saber |
sabr-
|
to know
|
|
|
caber
|
cabr-
|
to fit
|
|
|
poder
|
podr-
|
to be able to
|
|
|
poner
|
pondr-
|
to put
|
|
valer
|
valdr-
|
to be worth
|
|
|
tener
|
tendr-
|
to have
|
|
|
venir
|
vendr-
|
to come
|
|
|
salir
|
saldr-
|
to go out
|
|
|
These verbs don’t follow any particular pattern.
|
hacer
|
har-
|
to make/to do
|
|
decir
|
dir-
|
to say
|
All you have to do to make the future forms of these irregular verbs is add the endings for regular verbs. For example:
|
Personal Pronouns
|
Verb
|
English
|
|
Yo
|
saldré
|
I will go out
|
|
Tú
|
saldrás
|
You will go out
|
|
Él/Ella/Usted
|
saldrá
|
he/she/you will go out
|
|
Nosotros/Nosotras
|
saldremos
|
We will go out
|
|
Vosotros/Vosotras
|
saldréis
|
You (all) will go out
|
|
Ellos/Ellas/Ustedes
|
saldrán
|
they/you will go out
|
Reflexive Verbs and the “will” Future Tense
In the “will” Future Tense, the reflexive pronoun (se) goes before the main verb as a separate word, and the main verb is conjugated according to the rules of the Future Tense above. The following table shows the reflexive verb lavarse (to wash oneself) in the “will” Future Tense.
|
Person
|
lavarse
|
English
|
|
Yo
|
me lavaré
|
I will wash myself
|
|
Tú
|
te lavarás
|
You will wash yourself
|
|
Él/Ella/Usted
|
se lavará
|
He will wash himself
She will wash herself You will wash yourself |
|
Nosotros/Nosotras
|
nos lavaremos
|
We will wash ourselves
|
|
Vosotros/Vosotras
|
os lavaréis
|
You (all) will wash yourselves
|
|
Ellos/Ellas/Ustedes
|
se lavarán
|
They will wash themselves
You (all) will wash yourselves |
