October 29, 2019 by Ashley Reid Spanish Grammar

The Future Simple Tense in Spanish: el futuro simple

What are you going to do later? Will you finish your deadline on time? Are you planning to study more? Every day, we talk about our future plans, intentions, and assumptions. In order to express ourselves in Spanish, it’s only right that we learn how to talk about our future plans in the correct tense. Let’s take a look at how to conjugate the Future Simple Tense and when to use it!

What is the Future Simple Tense?

When you think about the future tense, what do you think of? If you’re like me, you think of the word “will.”

I will do that tomorrow.
He will not come to the party.

The Spanish equivalent of this tense is called the futuro simple. Unfortunately, it’s not as simple as adding the word “will” before the verb. Knowing how to use the verb endings, or conjugations, is the first step to mastering the usage of this tense.

Conjugations in the Future Simple Tense in Spanish

Simple Future Simple

What do you know—the futuro simple may actually be simple after all! Did you notice how all types of verbs, -ar, -er, and -ir, use the same endings? That’s super helpful.

Take a Closer Look

Normally, when we conjugate verbs in Spanish, we take off the -ar, -er, and -ir infinitive endings before adding the new endings specific to each tense. However, three main differences to the norm need your special attention in order to learn the conjugations correctly:

the infinitive endings stay
an additional ending is tacked onto the end of the verb
Every form of the futuro simple EXCEPT the nosotros form has an accent mark on the ending

Irregular Future Tense Verbs in Spanish

Of course, like all Spanish tenses, irregular verbs exist that defy all the rules. Here, we break them down for you into three different groups that also include a unique category without rules. Generally, you can see these patterns in the first two categories:

Either, remove the last vowel and bring the consonants together
Or, replace the last vowel with a “d” between the consonants

Now, it’s just up to you to memorize which verb falls into which category! Take a look!

unique irregular verbs in spanish future tense

When Do I Use the Future Simple Tense in Spanish?

Now that we’ve mastered the conjugation of the futuro simple, we need to make sure we can use it in the right situations.

1. For setting intentions

Lo haré mañana. I will do it tomorrow.

In this situation, we use the future simple in both English and Spanish. We are talking about an intention to do something. Is it certain? Not necessarily, but the intent is there, so we use the futuro simple.

2. For making assumptions

Ya estará en camino mi esposo. My husband is probably on his way.

Here, you can see that in Spanish we use the futuro simple, while in English, we use the present simple. Whenever you are assuming something without knowing if it is true or not, you use the futuro simple in Spanish. This sentence is an example of an assumption in the present tense, but this rule also applies to future assumptions.

Hazlo ahora. No tendrás tiempo el fin de semana. Do it now. You won’t have time this weekend.

Interestingly enough, for future assumptions like this one, you use the future simple in both English and Spanish!

3. For expressing possibilities

Ya es muy tarde. Debo irme. Mi mama estará preocupada. It’s late. I have to go. My mom is probably worried.

Here we can see someone talking about the possibility that their mom is worried. While we could possibly translate this to English as “My mom will be worried,” the reality is that the mom is probably worried now because it is late. Either way, we use the futuro simple in Spanish to represent the possibility that she is worried.

¿Cuánto costará ese carro? I wonder how much that car costs.

This sentence also represents a possibility, but it looks a little different. In Spanish, we don’t have a word for “wonder,” so we often use the futuro simple to express the uncertainty and possibility of the situation. Interesting, right?

Get to Practicing Today!

That was a lot of information about the futuro simple. If you would like to learn more about this tense, check out our video below! Don’t forget to download practice exercises to make sure you can use the futuro simple on your own. You’ll find the answer key at the end!

Simple Future: Exercises + Answer Key Download

As always, if you have any questions or want one-on-one help, schedule a FREE class with one of our amazing native Spanish-speaking teachers! They would love to help you with your language learning journey. ¡Hasta luego!