大象传媒

Different ways of talking about the future

An explanation of the uses of the future tense and how to conjugate it

There are two main tenses for talking about the future:

  • The immediate future is used to say what you are going to do or what is going to happen, eg voy a hacer mis deberes (I'm going to do my homework), voy a tener hijos dentro de diez a帽os (I'm going to have children within the next ten years).
  • The future tense is used to say what will happen, eg ir茅 al cine con mis amigos (I will go to the cinema with my friends), visitaremos todos los sitios tur铆sticos (we will visit all of the tourist sites).

Some useful time phrases for talking about future plans include:

尘补帽补苍补tomorrow
la semana que vienenext week
el a帽o que vienenext year
en el futuroin the future
despu茅s de mis ex谩menesafter my exams
en los pr贸ximos cinco a帽osin the next five years
m谩s tardelater on
尘补帽补苍补
tomorrow
la semana que viene
next week
el a帽o que viene
next year
en el futuro
in the future
despu茅s de mis ex谩menes
after my exams
en los pr贸ximos cinco a帽os
in the next five years
m谩s tarde
later on

Other ways of talking about the future

The following structures can also be used to talk about future plans:

querer + infinitive (to want to), eg quiero ir a la fiesta (I want to go to the party).

tener ganas de + infinitive (to want to), eg tengo ganas de ir a la universidad (I want to go to university).

esperar + infinitive (to hope to), eg espero sacar buenas notas (I hope to get good grades).

tener la intenci贸n de + infinitive (to intend to), eg tengo la intenci贸n de ir de vacaciones (I intend to go on holiday).

intentar + infinitive (to intend to), eg intento viajar de primera clase (I intend to travel first class).

In conversation, the present tense can sometimes be used to discuss an upcoming event, eg salimos 尘补帽补苍补 (we leave tomorrow - in other words, we will leave tomorrow).

The future tense can be used to say what will happen if something else occurs, eg si hago mis deberes, saldr茅 con mis amigos (If I do my homework, I will go out with my friends).