Future

In this video, we will cover the simple future tense. This is the form of the future that is comprised of only one word, and that is why we call it 'simple'. This is opposed to 'complex', which means that the verb form is comprised of more than one word. And in the case of Spanish, the 'complex' form of the future is one that you learned very early on in your Spanish lessons: the periphrastic future, or the use of ir a and the infinitive. But more on that later. For now, we are going to focus only on the simple future. This verb form is one of the easiest verb forms to create. simply take the infinitive and add -é for the yo form: hablaré, seré, iré; -ás for the tú form: hablarás, serás, irás; -á for the él/ella/Usted form: hablará, será, irá; -emos for the nosotros form: hablaremos, seremos, iremos; and --án for the ellos/ellas/Ustedes form: hablarán, serán, irán. Note two important elements here: first, the accent marks. They are absolutely crucial here; without them, you are drastically changing the meaning of the verb, changing it to the imperfect subjunctive (which we will get to later). Second, two of our most problematic verbs, ser and ir, are both regular here. The same is true for estar. Speaking of irregulars, we do have a few, and many of them have popped up before as somehow irregular. Here, we are talking about spelling and/or pronunciation issues. In the case of querer, haber, saber, and poder, we are simply losing the --e- of the ending. In the case of poner, salir, venir and tener, the same thing happened, but in most of these verbs an additional consonant was added. This is called a transitional consonant; it is in there because to go from a nasal sound or l sound to an r sound, your mouth naturally makes a consonant sound as a way to transition from one sound to the next. Hacer and decir go one step further, and delete last syllable of the infinitive before adding on the endings. When do we use the simple future? The main usage involves talking about something that you will do in the future, but that you probably have not fully planned out yet. Another way to think about this is as something that you somewhat hope to do in the future; you might have thought about how you want to achieve that goal, but you have not put concrete plans into action. For example, En el futuro, viviré en Hawái y bucearé cada día. In this sentence, we have not made any plans yet...we are simply talking about something that we hope to do in the future. Or another example: Quizás durante las vacaciones de inverno iremos a las montañas. In this sentence, we are expressing a desire that we might do, and for that reason we use the simple future. This is in contrast with the periphrastic future, or the ir a infinitive construction that you have been using for quite some time. In this construction, you are communicating a future action that you probably have started planning, or you have some definite ideas about how to complete the action. For example, Este fin de semana, vamos a ir a la playa. By stating this idea with the periphrastic future, we are saying that we intend on doing this, that we have plans in place. Or another example: Durante las vacaciones de invierno voy a dormir y relajarme. Again, this phrasing with the periphrastic future implies that there are concrete plans in place. A second use of the simple future is to express a probability. Again, there is an element of uncertainty that something might be happening. For example, Dónde estará Javi? Estará trabajando en Ruta Maya. In these sentences, we are not sure where Javi is, and by using the simple future, we are expressing that idea. Hopefully this video has shown you how to use the simple future in a variety of circumstances.