The future tense in Spanish is equivalent to using "will" in English, as in "I will go to the store," but unlike English, Spanish does not have a separate word like "will" to use before a verb. To form the future tense in Spanish, you add new endings to the infinitive form of the verb, just like all conjugation in Spanish. This means that a verb conjugated in the future is only one word, not two. The endings depend on which person or pronoun you are conjugating for, and some verbs have irregular conjugations that students must memorize instead of following the regular pattern.

Conjugating the Future Tense

1

Add "é" to the end of an infinitive verb for the "yo" form; an infinitive verb is a full verb that ends in either "er," "ar" or "ir" (example: I will go, I will buy, I will dance; yo iré, yo compraré, yo bailaré).

2

Use "ás" for the "tú" form, which is the informal "you" in Spanish (example: you will go, you will buy, you will dance; tú irás, tú comprarás, tú bailarás).

3

Add "á" for the "él," "ella" and "usted" forms, which are "he," "she" and the formal "you," respectively (example: he will go, she will buy, you will dance; él irá, ella comprará, usted bailará).

4

Add "emos" for the "nosotros" form and "éis" for the "vosotros" form, which are "we" and the informal plural "you" (example: we will go, we will buy, you all will dance; nosotros iremos, nosotros compraremos, vosotros bailaréis).

5

Use "án" for the "ellos," "ellas" and "ustedes" form, which are masculine "they," feminine "they" and the formal plural "you" (example: they will go, they will buy, you all will dance; ellos irán, ellas comprarán, ustedes bailarán).

Tips

Make sure to use accent marks when writing, or else you can inadvertently change the tense of the verb.