Lesson7 - Verbs – The Future Tense – Regular and Irregular Verbs

PART 1

 

The first part of this lesson looks at what the future tense is and when and how we use it in both Spanish and English. It also looks at how regular verbs are formed in the future tense.

 

The future tense is not the only tense we can use to talk about the future. The present tense with the verb ‘ir’ can also be used. This is covered in more detail later in the lesson.

 

The future tense is used in both Spanish and English to talk about things that will happen or things that will be true in the future.

In English the word ‘will’ or a shortened version is used to form the future tense. In Spanish the future tense is formed by changing the verb that is being used to talk about the future. Look at these examples using the verb to eat (comer), and to send (enviar).

 

I will eat soon.                        Comeré  pronto.

She will send it tomorrow.       Ella lo enviará mañana.

 

If you have studied the previous lessons you will know that Spanish verbs are made up of a stem and an ending. Regular verbs in the future tense are formed by changing the endings of verbs. Irregular verbs are formed by changing both the endings of verbs and sometimes the stems as well.

 

Regular verbs are formed in the future tense as follows:

 

personal pronoun	manejar	prender	resistir	endings
	(to drive)	(to turn on)	(to resist)
yo	manejaré	prenderé	resistiré	ré
tú	manejarás	prenderás	resistirás	rás
él/ella/usted	manejará	prenderá	resistirá	rá
nosotros/nosotras	manejaremos	prenderemos	resistiremos	remos
vosotros/vosotras	manejaréis	prenderéis	resistiréis	réis
ellos/ellas/ustedes	manejarán	prederán	resistirán	rán

 

Things to note.

 

1)      Accent marks (tildes), are used with all personal pronouns except the nosotros/as forms.

2)      The endings of the verbs are the same for AR, ER and IR verbs.

3)      The future tense of regular verbs is formed by adding to the ending of the verb rather than changing it.

 

PART 2

 

The second part of the lesson looks at other tenses that can be used to talk about the future.

 

The present tenses

 

Present tenses are used in both Spanish and English to talk about the future but not always in the same way. A mixture of both the present simple tense and the present continuous tense can be used. Take a look at these examples:

 

Ella recibe su sueldo mañana.                -           She gets paid tomorrow.

(present simple tense)                                       (present simple tense)

 

Subimos por el avíon a las cuatro.        -           We´re getting on the plane at four.

(present simple tense)                                       (present continuous tense)

 

Using the verb to go (ir).

 

In both Spanish and English the verb to go (ir), is used in either one of two ways. The first is by using the present simple tense as follows:

 

Van a la iglesia mas tarde.                      -They are going to church later.

Voy a la capital mañana.                          -I’m going to the capital tomorrow.

 

The other way the verb to go (ir), can be used is by using the infinitive form of the verb in English or by using the present tense form of ‘ir’ and adding ‘a’ in Spanish. Take a look at these examples with the verb to run (correr).

 

personal pronoun	ir + a	correr	English translation
		(to run)
yo	voy a	correr	I'm going to run
tú	vas a	correr	your going to run
él/ella/usted	va a	correr	he's/she's/your (polite) going to run
nosotros/nosotras	vamos a	correr	we're going to run
vosotros/vosotras	vais a	correr	your (all) going to run
ellos/ellas/ustedes	van a	correr	they're / your (all) polite going to run

Things to note:

1)      The letter 'a' is always placed directly after the formation of 'ir'.

2)      When the verb 'ir' + 'a' is used in this way, a verb will always come directly after the letter 'a'.

The verb form, 'vamos' can also be used in the same way above to mean 'lets' in English:

 

            Vamos a correr.           -           Lets go running (let's run).

            Vamos a comer.           -           Lets go and eat (let's eat).

            Vamos al cine               -           Lets go to the cinema.

 

PART 3

 

This part of the lesson looks at how the future tense is formed in Spanish with some irregular verbs. Regular verbs are formed by adding to the ending of a verb without changing the verbs stem as described in part one of this lesson. Irregular verbs are formed by changing both the stem and the ending of the verb. It is important to note however that the endings of irregular verbs are added to in exactly the same way as regular verbs are added to.

 

Here are some examples of how some of the most common irregular verbs are formed in Spanish:

	yo	tú	el/ella/usted	nosotros/as	vosotros/as	ellos/ellas/ ustedes
decir (to say)	diré	dirás	dirá	diremos	diréis	dirán
hacer (to do/make)	haré	harás	hará	haremos	haréis	harán
poder (to be able)	podré	podrás	podrá	podremos	podréis	podrán
poner (to put)	pondré	pondrás	pondrá	pondremos	pondréis	pondrán
querer (to want)	querré	querrás	querrá	querremos	querréis	querrán
saber (to know)	sabré	sabrás	sabrá	sabremos	sabréis	sabrán
tener (to have)	tendré	tendrás	tendrá	tendremos	tendréis	tendrán
venir (to come)	vendré	vendrás	vendrá	vendremos	vendréis	vendrán
salir (to leave)	saldré	saldrás	saldrá	saldremos	saldréis	saldrán
haber (to have)	habré	habrás	habrá	habremos	habréis	habrán

 

PART 4

 

Part four of the lesson looks at how the future tense is used with ‘haber’ (to have – auxiliary verb). For more information on auxiliary verbs take a look at our definitions section of this website and also the lessons on the perfect tenses. We will also look at some differences between how the future tense is sometimes used in Spanish and English.

 

Using haber

 

Haber is used when forming the future perfect tense. More detailed information is given about the perfect tenses in a later lesson. Below is an example of how the future perfect tense is used.

      Me pregunto si ella habrá hablado con Sofia.
      I wonder if she will have spoken with Sofia.

 

‘Haber’ is also used in the future tense in Spanish in the following way:

           

habrá

there will be

 

Using ‘will’ in English as an expression of ‘to be willing’

 

Sometimes ‘will’ is used in English as a way of saying for example, ‘are you willing to do something’. This is not the same in Spanish. Take a look at this example:

 

Marco will you wait for me?      -           ¿Marco me quieres esperar?

Will you come with me?            -           ¿(Tú) quieres venir conmigo ?

 

In Spanish the verb ‘querer’ (to want), is often used.

 

That concludes this lesson on the future tense. If you have not done so already watch the actual video for this lesson and then try one of the associated quizzes to test your understanding.