Simple Future in Spanish

Conjugation

We will see the 3 conjugations of Spanish verbs:

First Conjugation "-ar"

Next, we study the conjugation of the verb "cantar", the other Verbs ending in "-ar" follow the same conjugation table:

cantar (to sing)

First
conjugation
[stem] + "-ar"
Meaning
yo cantaréI will sing
cantarásyou will sing
él cantaráhe will sing
nosotros cantaremoswe will sing
vosotros cantareisyou will sing
ellos cantaránthey will sing

First Conjugation "-er"

Now, the verb "beber" as example of the verb ending in "-er":

beber (to drink)

Second
conjugation
[stem] + "-er"
Meaning
yo beberéI will drink
beberásyou will drink
él beberáhe will drink
nosotros beberemoswe will drink
vosotros bebereisyou will drink
ellos beberánthey will drink

Third Conjugation "-ir"

Finally, we will see the conjugation of the verb "dormir" as example of a verb ending in "-ir":

dormir (to sleep)

First
conjugation
[stem] + "-ar"
Meaning
yo dormiréI will sleep
dormirásyou will sleep
él dormiráhe will sleep
nosotros dormiremoswe will sleep
vosotros dormireisyou will sleep
ellos dormiránthey will sleep

Conjugation of Simple Future

Next, we have a table for you with all of the first, second and third person conjugations of regular verbs in the simple future.

PronounFirst conjugationSecond conjugationThird conjugation
yo-aré -eré -iré
-ar-er-ir
él-ará -erá -irá
nosotros-aremos-eremos-iremos
vosotros-areis-ereis-ireis
ellos-arán-erán-irán

So far, we have explained things formally to you but we´ll show a trick. If you notice, the simple future does not have many differences between the different conjugations. The endings are the same except for one letter which tells you which conjugation it is. Therefore, you can use the infinitive of each regular verb and add simple future endings.

Uses of the simple future indicative

The simple future is used to:

  1. talk about future situations (which may or may not happen). These expressions usually have:

    ExpresionMeaning
    mañana tomorrow
    pasado mañana after tomorrow
    luego then
    esta tarde this afternoon
    en el año 2020 in the year 2020
    pronto soon
    el viernes que viene next Friday
    la semana que viene next week
    el próximo viernes next Friday
    el próximo verano next summer
    dentro de 2 semanas within 2 weeks

    Mañana iremos al Zoo
    Tomorrow we´ll go to the Zoo

    En Enero me apuntaré al gimnasio
    In January, I will join the gym

  2. discuss predictions
  3. Lloverá el fin de semana
    It will rain this weekend

    Te casarás y tendrás 2 hijos
    You will marry and have 2 kids

  4. to talk about conjectures concerning present situations. These expressions usually are similar to:

    ExpresionMeaning
    supongo que I suppose that
    creo que I believe that
    imagino que I imagine that
    probablemente probably

    Elena se va a trabajar, ¿en qué trabajará?
    Elena is going to work. What kind of work might it be?

    No sé, imagino que será peluquera (supongo que es peluquera), porque siempre va muy bien peinada
    I don´t know, I imagine she´ll be a hairdresser (I suppose she that is a hairdresser) because she always has very nice hair

  5. Historical future: When we narrate some historical fact and the action was after the time at which we are talking about it

    El general mandará una carta a su esposa
    The general will send a letter to his wife

    El rey luchará hasta la rendición del ejército enemigo
    The king will fight until the enemy army´s surrender

The question with the simple future indicative

When we ask a question, generally, we switch the position of the verb to that of the personal pronoun.

First conjugationSecond conjugationThird conjugation
¿cantaré (yo)?
will I sing?
¿beberé (yo)?
will I drink?
¿dormiré (yo)?
will I sleep?
¿cantarás (tú)?
will you sing?
¿beberás (tú)?
will you drink?
¿dormirás (tú)?
will you sleep?
¿cantará (él)?
will he sing?
¿beberá (él)?
will he drink?
¿dormirá (él)?
will he sleep?
¿cantaremos (nosotros)?
will we sing?
¿beberemos (nosotros)?
will we drink?
¿dormiremos (nosotros)?
will we sleep?
¿cantareis (vosotros)?
will you sing?
¿bebereis (vosotros)?
will you drink?
¿dormireis (vosotros)?
will you sleep?
¿cantarán (ellos)?
will they sing?
¿beberán (ellos)?
will they drink?
¿dormirán (ellos)?
will they sleep?

Negation of the simple future indicative

To make the negative form, simply put the word "no" before the verb, or, in other words, to the left of the verb.

First conjugationSecond conjugationThird conjugation
yo no cantaré
I will not sing
yo no beberé
I will not drink
yo no dormiré
I will not sleep
no cantarás
you will not sing
no beberás
you will not drink
no dormirás
you will not sleep
él no cantará
he will not sing
él no beberá
he will not drink
él no dormirá
he will not sleep
nosotros no cantaremos
we will not sing
nosotros no beberemos
we will not drink
nosotros no dormiremos
we will not sleep
vosotros no cantareis
you will not sing
vosotros no bebereis
you will not drink
vosotros no dormireis
you will not sleep
ellos no cantarán
they will not sing
ellos no beberán
they will not drink
ellos no dormirán
they will not sleep