Amarás Buenos Aires: the simple future in Spanish
chose the phrase "amarás Buenos Aires" (you will love Buenos Aires) for the title of this article because, the first time I visited the city of Buenos Aires, I received that message from a friend who had already been there several times. And I chose it, furthermore, because in this article we will see the simple future in Spanish, and before seeing the pure and hard grammar I want to make some clarifications. Or say what I think, or what I believe. Let's go!
El futuro simple en español.
The simple future in Spanish is a verb tense that, as its name says, theoretically is used to express future events. Yes, and no. It is actually a very versatile verb tense and, from my point of view, the one that presents the most differences in its use between the different varieties of the Spanish language. I return to the phrase amarás Buenos Aires (you will love Buenos Aires): I understood it, yes, perfectly, as any native Spanish speaker would understand it perfectly regardless of their native variety of the language, but it sounded completely unnatural to me. In my variety of the language, to convey this message, we would normally use the periphrasis ir + a + verb + complement: vas a amar Buenos Aires (you are going to love Buenos Aires). And thinking while I write, the most likely way to convey that message would be te va a encantar Buenos Aires. But to her, for some reason, when she wrote me that message it came out that way. Why do I give this example? Because, as I have written before, from my point of view this verb tense is used more for other functions than to introduce actions that, for sure, will occur in the future. As a major difference, it can be said that in Spanish from Spain there is a greater tendency to use this verb tense to introduce this type of actions and that in Latin American Spanish there is a greater tendency to use the periphrastic future, but this is something that I believe has to be analyzed variety by variety and whose differences are, from my point of view always, greater even than those of the use of the pretérito perfecto versus the indefinido. Let’s see, then, the grammar and the described uses. Everything I am going to write from here on is correct and comprehensible for any native Spanish speaker and for any language learner with sufficient level of linguistic competence, but its uses in day-to-day life will vary according to the variety of Spanish language in question.
Regular conjugation.
The regular conjugation of the simple future requires, simply, adding endings to the infinitive of verbs, and these are the same for the three verbal groups in Spanish.
Hablar (to speak).
Yo hablaré
Tú hablarás
Él/Ella/Usted hablará
Nosotros/as hablaremos
Vosotros/as hablaréis
Ellos/Ellas/Ustedes hablarán
Comer (to eat).
Yo comeré
Tú comerás
Él/Ella/Usted comerá
Nosotros/as comeremos
Vosotros/as comeréis
Ellos/Ellas/Ustedes comerán
Vivir (to live).
Yo viviré
Tú vivirás
Él/Ella/Usted vivirá
Nosotros/as viviremos
Vosotros/as viviréis
Ellos/Ellas/Ustedes vivirán
Frequent irregular verbs.
Although the simple future has relatively few irregular verbs, it is crucial to know the most frequent ones:
Irregularities by root change.
Tener (to have) → tendr-
Yo tendré, tú tendrás, él tendrá, nosotros tendremos, vosotros tendréis, ellos tendrán
Venir (to come) → vendr-
Yo vendré, tú vendrás, él vendrá, nosotros vendremos, vosotros vendréis, ellos vendrán
Poner (to put) → pondr-
Yo pondré, tú pondrás, él pondrá, nosotros pondremos, vosotros pondréis, ellos pondrán
Salir (to go out) → saldr-
Yo saldré, tú saldrás, él saldrá, nosotros saldremos, vosotros saldréis, ellos saldrán
Valer (to be worth) → valdr-
Yo valdré, tú valdrás, él valdrá, nosotros valdremos, vosotros valdréis, ellos valdrán
Irregularities by Vowel Loss.
Haber (to have as auxiliary) → habr-
Yo habré, tú habrás, él habrá, nosotros habremos, vosotros habréis, ellos habrán
Caber (to fit) → cabr-
Yo cabré, tú cabrás, él cabrá, nosotros cabremos, vosotros cabréis, ellos cabrán
Poder (to can) → podr-
Yo podré, tú podrás, él podrá, nosotros podremos, vosotros podréis, ellos podrán
Querer (to want) → querr-
Yo querré, tú querrás, él querrá, nosotros querremos, vosotros querréis, ellos querrán
Saber (to know) → sabr-
Yo sabré, tú sabrás, él sabrá, nosotros sabremos, vosotros sabréis, ellos sabrán
Special Irregularities.
Decir (to say) → dir-
Yo diré, tú dirás, él dirá, nosotros diremos, vosotros diréis, ellos dirán
Hacer (to do, to make) → har-
Yo haré, tú harás, él hará, nosotros haremos, vosotros haréis, ellos harán
Uses of the simple future.
Expressing future actions: this is the use, so to speak, most obvious of this verb tense, but at the same time the one that occurs the least, at least, in my variety of the language. That is, it is understood and can be used, but in general in my variety of the language we tend to substitute it with the periphrastic future, which we will see in another article. As I wrote before: broadly speaking we can say that in Spain this use of the simple future occurs more and in Latin America less, but from my point of view that depends on each variety of the language. And with this I am not telling you that if you are used to using it you should not use it if you speak with a native speaker from Latin America. You can use it and your messages will be understood. What I want to tell you with this is that surely you will hear it more if you interact with Spanish speakers and less if you interact with Latin American native speakers. An exception to this, at least in my variant, is in written language: in the press and literature, for example, the simple future is used much more than the periphrastic. Let’s see some examples.
Mañana iré al médico. (Tomorrow I will go to the doctor).
El año que viene viajaremos a Europa. (Next year we will travel to Europe).
Te llamaré cuando llegue a casa. (I will call you when I get home).
Expressing probability or supposition in the future: this is also a very frequent use, which also in some cases, depending on the variety of language in question, is sometimes substituted by the periphrastic future.
¿Crees que María irá a la fiesta? (Do you think María will go to the party?).
Supongo que en 2050 llegaremos a Marte. (I suppose that in 2050 we will reach Mars).
Seguramente mañana lloverá todo el día. (Surely tomorrow it will rain all day).
Expressing probability or supposition in the present: this use is also very frequent and is used to express a supposition of something current, like the time, the price of something, etc.
¡Qué linda casa! ¿Cuánto costará? (What a beautiful house! How much does it cost?).
¿Qué hora será? Serán las 5. (What time might it be? It must be 5 o’clock. There’s no way to check the exact time, so we suppose it).
María no contesta el teléfono. Estará durmiendo. (María doesn’t answer the phone. She must be sleeping. We suspect she’s sleeping right now).
Expressing future actions that are not certain but that if a condition is met will be inevitable:
Pedí tener el día libre mañana en el trabajo. (I asked to have the day off tomorrow at work).
¿Y si no te lo dan? (And if they don’t give it to you?).
Iré a trabajar. (I will go to work).
Mi computadora no prende. La voy a llevar a un técnico. (My computer won’t turn on. I’m going to take it to a technician).
¿Y si no puede repararla? (And if he can’t repair it?).
Me compraré otra. (I will buy another one).
Expressing orders or commands: in some varieties of the language the simple future is used with an imperative meaning.
Hoy te acostarás temprano. (Today you will go to bed early. Whether you want to or not).
Harás la tarea antes de salir. (You will do the homework before going out).
Making polite requests: several verb tenses are used in Spanish to add politeness to requests and the simple future is one of them. It should be noted that in this use the request is for the current moment, not for something future, unless the context indicates otherwise.
¿Podrá usted ayudarme? (Can you help me?).
¿Tendrás un minuto para hablar conmigo? (Do you have a minute to talk with me?).
Expressing surprise or incredulity: generally in the form of a rhetorical question when we already know that something is real, with the expression ¿será posible? (is it possible?) being the most frequent use in this case.
El auto tiene dos ruedas pinchadas. (The car has two flat tires).
¿Será posible? (Is it possible?).
As you can see, this verb tense has many possible uses. The meaning of the message transmitted using this verb tense will depend on the context of the communicative act, like many things in linguistics. Thus, if someone tells you hoy te acostarás temprano they are not making a prediction, they are giving you an order. Or if someone says mañana trabajaré todo el día they don’t suppose it, they know it. And when my friend told me amarás Buenos Aires she was supposing it, because she knows me. And she was right, yes, I did love Buenos Aires. Here I leave you exercises to practice this topic. Thanks for reading!
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