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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:

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).

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:

• if you're new to the future tense in Spanish, then start with regular exercises on the yo and él/ella forms;
• then, practise (regular) tú and ellos/ellas forms;
• after the first two exercises— or if you just want to revise the future tense— practise all regular future tense forms;
• when you're familiar with regular forms, you can review and practise irregular future tense forms.

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