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Regular future tense forms

In general, the future tense is formed by adding future tense endings to the infinitive. Here are the future tense endings with examples:

PersonFuture tense endingExample
yocomeré
I'll eat
-áshablarás
you'll speak
él / ellaentenderá
he/she'll understand
nosotros, -as-emoscaminaremos
we'll walk
vosotros, -as-éisesperaréis
you'll wait
ellos / ellas-ánirán
they'll go

As elsewhere in the language, the usted form follows the él/ella form, and the ustedes form the ellos/ellas form.

Notice that:

  • these endings are very similar to the present tense of haber;
  • the future tense ending is always accented (no written accent is needed on -emos, but in the spoken form, the accented syllable is still the first syllable of this ending1).
These facts are no coincidence: historically, the future tense actually derives from the infinitive plus haber.

1. Recall that in the Spanish spelling system, the next-to-last syllable is generally assumed to be the accented one if no accent mark is written. Since the ending -emos is two syllables, then no mark is needed to denote the fact that the spoken accent falls on the first syllable of this ending.

Next: future tense practice and revision

Depending on how new you are to the future tense, the following options are available to help you learn and practise the future tense:

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