Future Forms in Spanish: Futuro Simple or futuro imperfecto
Making plans, talking about projects and intentions… knowing how to talk about the future in Spanish is really important to communicate fluently and effortlessly on real-life situations. If you’d like to learn all there’s to know about it, keep reading our most detailed series about the future.
In this post you'll find:
- The conjugation of regular and irregular verbs in futuro simple,
- how to use futuro simple or imperfecto in Spanish,
- many practical exercises.
Wait a second… Have you missed any of our previous posts in our series about the future in Spanish? Don’t worry! Follow the links and don’t miss anything!
Futuro simple or imperfecto (B1)
- ¿Irás de vacaciones el próximo año?
- Sí, viajaré a Argentina en marzo con mi novio y visitaremos a nuestros amigos en Buenos Aires.
- ¿Y hará buen tiempo en marzo?
In the previous dialogue you can see different forms of futuro simple, also called futuro imperfecto. This is a tense that is conjugated by adding a special ending to the infinitive. It doesn’t matter if the verb is of the first (-ar), second (-er) or third (-ir) conjugation. This is the tense we use to make predictions, to guess what the 25th century will be like and whether or not it will rain on Monday. But before we look at its uses, we need to learn how to conjugate it.
In the following table you can see the conjugation of the regular verbs.
Practice makes perfect! Let’s go!
The good news about futuro simple or futuro imperfecto is that it only has 12 irregular verbs. The special future ending is also used with these irregular verbs. The irregularity is in the root of the verbs. Look at this chart with the 12 irregular verbs conjugated:
It’s practice time!
Uses of futuro simple or imperfecto:
Actions, facts, plans and projects in the future
Iremos al restaurante el próximo sábado a las 20:00.
Viajarán a Málaga en octubre.
Mañana será el cumpleaños del abuelo de Clara.
Predictions
El fin de semana lloverá en la costa este del país.
El regalo le encantará a Marisa. No te preocupes.
Conocerás al hombre de tus sueños y seréis muy felices.
Consequences in real conditional sentences
Si + presente de indicativo, futuro imperfecto
Si mañana llueve, no iré a la fiesta.
Si tenemos tiempo, podremos reunirnos con los clientes.
No comerás tarta si no te comes el brócoli.
Attention! There are 3 options for these types of sentences:
Si + presente de indicativo, presente de indicativo / imperativo / futuro imperfecto
Si mañana llueve, no voy a la fiesta. (presente de indicativo)
Si mañana llueve, no vayas a la fiesta. (imperativo)
Si mañana llueve, no iré a la fiesta. (futuro imperfecto)
¿Futuro simple or IR a + infinitivo?
What’s the difference of saying “voy a llamarte” and “te llamaré”? Is there any real difference or is it all just a theory? Look at the following chart:
| Futuro simple o imperfecto | IR a + infinitivo |
|---|---|
|
Actions and less likely future facts
|
Firm intention of doing something
or more likely future facts
|
|
Mañana comeré en un restaurante peruano.
Esta tarde lloverá.
|
Mañana voy a comer en un restaurante peruano. Ya he hecho la reserva.
Esta tarde va a llover. El cielo está gris y hay muchas nubes.
|
|
Actions or facts in the distant future
|
Actions or facts in the immediate future
|
|
Algún día hablaré español perfectamente.
En el año 3500 las ciudades serán autosostenibles.
|
Después de este curso voy a hablar español perfectamente.
Esta ciudad va a abrir una planta de reciclaje el próximo mes.
|
Attention! The rules you’ve read in the previous table are just guidelines for you to learn the theoretical differences between futuro imperfecto and IR a + infinitivo, but in real life it’s quite flexible. That’s why when you tell someone “te llamaré” and you don’t do it, it’s likely that they wiil get upset.
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