El Futuro Próximo (Part 1)

In this topic we will we will we we are going to learn how to describe events in the Future with El Futuro Próximo.

So far in the course, we have learned how to speak in Spanish Present Tense to describe things we usually / always / never / sometimes / often / seldom do. Now we will see how to speak about the Spanish Future with El Futuro Próximo. Later in the course, we will learn how to describe things from the past.

Learning how to use the different tenses is fundamental to mastering Spanish. It is vital that we clearly understand the rules of how to conjugate (change the verb endings) for each grammar tense and in which circumstances each tense is used. El Futuro Próximo is used to describe plans and intentions in the near future and is similar to the English future tense with Going To.

Spanish Future with El Futuro Próximo

El Futuro Próximo is a relatively straightforward Spanish grammar tense and one that is extremely useful. As with all tenses, we need to have a good repertoire of verbs, but when describing the Spanish Future with El Futuro Próximo we don’t need to worry about conjugating the verbs. This makes things much easier! We just need to remember the following structure.

Spanish Future: Verbo Ir (to go) + a + verb (infinitive)

Yo – Voy – a – infinitive
Tú – Vas – a – infinitive
Él/Ella – Va – a – infinitive
Nosotros – Vamos – a – infinitive
Vosotros – Vais – a – infinitive
Ellos/Ellas – Van – a – infinitive

The Infinitive form of a verb is its base form before any conjugation. When we looked at the Spanish Present Tense earlier in the course we were faced with learning lots of different verb conjugations for each person. El Futuro Próximo is much simpler! You just need to work on remembering the voy, vas, va, vamos, vais, van part for each person.

Let’s see some new Spanish verbs:

Escuchar – To listen
Jugar – To play
Estudiar – To study
Trabajar – To work
Dormir – To sleep
Comprar – To buy
Ver – To watch
Vender – To sell
Usar – To use
Cenar – To dine

Here are some example sentences discussing the Future with el Futuro Próximo:

(Yo) Voy a ……..: I am going to……
Voy a dormir: I am going to sleep

(Tú) Vas a ………: You are going to……..
¿Vas a trabajar?: Are you going to work?

(Él/Ella) Va a ………: He/she is going to……
Pedro va a cenar: Pedro is going to have dinner

(Nosotros/as) Vamos a ………..: We are going to……
Vamos a estudiar: We are going to study

(Vosotros/as) Váis a ……….: You are going to…..
¿Váis a escuchar?: Are you going to listen?

(Ellos/as) Van a ……..: They are going to……
Los niños van a jugar: The children are going to play