Future Tense
Future Tense
English builds every future sentence with a helper word, 'will'. Spanish instead changes the verb's own ending — no helper word required at all.
Grammar Comparison
Grammar Comparison
One set of endings, added to the whole infinitive
hablaré, hablarás, hablará... — the ending attaches directly to hablar, the full infinitive
I will speak, you will speak — 'will' stays separate from the verb
Spanish's future tense adds a single set of endings (-é, -ás, -á, -emos, -án) onto the complete, unmodified infinitive — for regular verbs, the future is unusually easy to build correctly, since the same endings apply to -ar, -er, and -ir verbs alike. English keeps 'will' as its own separate word, never fused onto the main verb.
A dozen verbs use an irregular stem, but the same endings
tener → tendré (not 'tenerá'); the stem shortens, but the endings (-é, -ás...) stay completely regular
will have — English's 'will' never changes, regardless of the main verb
About a dozen common verbs — tener, poder, hacer, decir, salir — shorten or alter their stem before adding the future endings (tendré, podré, haré). The endings themselves never change, though, so even these irregular verbs are only irregular in one predictable place, the same 'memorize one piece' pattern you've now seen in several other tenses.
Vocabulary
Vocabulary
- English
- I will speak
- English
- you will eat
- English
- he/she will live
- English
- I will have
- English
- you will be able to
- English
- I will do / I will make
- English
- I will say
- English
- we will leave
- English
- tomorrow
- English
- next year