4.01 - Mi futuro y el tuyo - Estructuras
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4.01 Mi futuro y el tuyo
You already know how to express things you are going to do in the immediate future with ir + a + infinitive. EG: Voy a jugar al béisbol esta noche.
However, we also talk about things in the future with will. EG: I will play baseball forever. This is usually used to talk about things that are further ahead in the future.
In Spanish there is an actual tense to express actions in the (more distant) future as well. It is a simple one. It is actually called el Futuro Simple.
Verb Endings
The Simple Future tense, unlike other tenses, uses the same set of endings for all -ar, -er, and –ir verbs. Also, the will we use in English is included in the verb in Spanish. In other words, the will + verb is expressed with only the one verb in Spanish. Here are the endings.
| -ar / -er / -ir | |||
| Yo | -é | Nosotros | -emos |
| Tú | -ás | Vosotros | -éis |
| Él / Ella / Ud | -á | Ellos(as) / Uds | -án |
Forming the verb
Instead of dropping the infinitive ending (-ar / -er /-ir) just add the endings to the complete infinitive verb. Here are some examples so you can see what I mean:
- estudiar → yo estudiaré
- perder → nosotros perderemos
- abrir → él abrirá
Práctica - ¡Ahora te toca a tÃ!
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Irregulars
There are some irregulars but not many. They can be put in three categories that are based on what you do to the infinitive to get the new stem needed to conjugate the verb. Once you have the new stem, add the endings learned before. Here they are:
| decir → | dir- |
| hacer → | har- |
| haber | poder | querer | saber | caber |
| habr- | podr- | querr- | sabr- | cabr- |
| poner | salir | tener | venir | valer |
| pondr- | saldr | tendr- | vendr- | valdr- |
Por ejemplo:
Dentro de su presidencia, las reformas podrán ser limitadas. Las personas oprimidas dirán la verdad saldrán de la opresión.
Uses
Basically this tense expresses something further in the future than ir a + infinitive. Compare these 2 examples:
Voy a estudiar esta noche. Estudiaré esta noche.
The Simple Future in Spanish is also used to express probability or conjecture in the future or in present events. In English it can express words like wonder, bet, must be, may, might, and probably. Let’s see how...
| ¿Qué dÃa será? | I wonder what day it is. |
| Probablemente tendremos unos reporteros en la conferencia. | We will probably have some reporters at the conference. |
| Será una represalia contra el gobierno. | It must be retaliation against the government. |
| Se opondrán ellos contra la dictadura. | I bet they will oppose the dictatorship. |