Verbs: Future Tense

01

When to Use the Future Tense

The simple future tense is used in two main contexts:

1. To talk about future events or make predictions.

This is its most direct function, referring to actions that will happen at a later time.

• L'any que ve viatjaré a Grècia.

  Next year I will travel to Greece.

• No et preocupis, tot anirà bé.

  Don't worry, everything will be fine.

2. To express probability or conjecture about the present.

This usage is very common and expresses a guess or assumption about a current situation. It is equivalent to saying "probably," "must be," or "I wonder" in English.

• On és la Maria? – No ho sé, serà a casa seva.

  Where is Maria? – I don't know, she's probably at her house.

• Qui truca a la porta? – Serà el carter.

  Who is knocking at the door? – It must be the postman.

02

Irregular Verbs in the Future Tense

A number of common verbs are irregular in the future tense. They use a modified stem instead of the full infinitive, but they take the exact same endings as regular verbs.

Here are the most important irregular stems:

• anar → anir-
• dir → dir-
• fer → far-
• poder → podr-
• saber → sabr-
• tenir → tindr-
• venir → vindr-
• voler → voldr-

• Demà farà bon temps.

  Tomorrow the weather will be good.

• No podré venir a la reunió.

  I will not be able to come to the meeting.

• Què em diràs?

  What will you tell me?

03

An Alternative: 'Anar a' + Infinitive

In spoken Catalan, especially in and around Barcelona, it is extremely common to express the future using the structure: present tense of anar + a + infinitive. This is often called the periphrastic future and is similar to "going to" + verb in English.

It is typically used for near-future plans and intentions.

• Aquesta nit vaig a mirar una pel·lícula.

  Tonight I'm going to watch a film.

• Anem a sopar a fora?

  Are we going to have dinner out?

While both future forms are correct, the anar a construction is often preferred in everyday conversation for concrete plans, whereas the simple future (miraré) can sound slightly more formal or be used for more distant or less certain predictions.