Future tense
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In linguistics, a future tense is a verb form that marks the event described by a verb as not having happened yet, but expected to in the future.
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Future tenses in English
In English, as in most Germanic languages, there is no future tense in the sense of a specific inflection that marks a verb for futurity after the fashion of the markers that appear in the preterite forms of the past tense. Rather, the future tense is marked by the use of a number of auxiliary verbs.
The verb shall formerly appeared as a future tense marker. It is now becoming obsolescent in that function, but appears in a desiderative function with subjunctive force in legal ordinances and similar documents:
- Each animal carried in an aircraft shall be confined in a container ...
and in strong declarations of intent or resolve:
- (W)e shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender ...
Now will serves as the ordinary marker of the English future tense. The former distinction between shall and will may have been levelled due to the reduction, in most ordinary speech, of either form to the contraction 'll. See shall for a discussion on where properly to use these two auxiliary verbs.
The verb phrase be going to also marks a future construction in English; it too is frequently contracted. Going-to future marks future planned activity and prediction based on fact. For example: I am going to do my homework tomorrow. It is going to rain on Wednesday. "Going to" is often contracted in spoken English to "gonna". For example: It's gonna rain on Wednesday.
Simple Future Tense
The structure of the Simple Future Tense is:
| subject | + | auxiliary verb WILL | + | main verb |
| invariable | base | |||
| We | will | sing |
To make a sentence negative, simply add not between the auxiliary verb and the main verb. To make it a question, exchange the subject and auxiliary verb.
The simple future tense can be used in conjunction with the verb to think as well as predictions (I think I will watch a movie. There will be a colony on mars by 2050.). It can also be used to indicate a state of being, such as I will be in Chicago.
Future Continuous Tense
The structure of the Future Continuous Tense is:
| subject | + | auxiliary verb WILL | + | auxiliary verb BE</FONT> | + | main verb |
| invariable | invariable | present participle | ||||
| We | will | be | singing |
To make a sentence negative, simply add not between will and be. To make it a question, exchange the subject and auxiliary verb will.
The future continuous tense is used to indicate an action that occurs at a certain moment in the future. The action will start before the moment, but will not have finished. It will be snowing when you come home.
Future Perfect Tense
The structure of the Future Perfect Tense is:
| subject | + | auxiliary verb WILL | + | auxiliary verb HAVE</FONT> | + | main verb |
| invariable | invariable | past participle | ||||
| We | will | have | sung |
To make a sentence negative, simply add not between will and have. To make it a question, exchange the subject and auxiliary verb will.
The future perfect tense is used to express an action in the future before another action in the future. In essence, it indicates past in the future. The football game will have finished before you leave work.
Future Perfect Continuous Tense
The structure of the Future Perfect Continuous Tense is:
| subject | + | auxiliary verb WILL | + | auxiliary verb HAVE</FONT> | + | auxiliary verb BE</FONT> | + | main verb |
| invariable | invariable | past participle | present participle | |||||
| We | will | have | been | singing |
To make a sentence negative, simply add not between will and have. To make it a question, exchange the subject and auxiliary verb will.
The future perfect continuous tense is used to express a long action before some point in the future. I will have been waiting for two hours when her plane arrives.
Future tense in Latin
The future tense forms in Latin varied by conjugation. Here is a sample of the future tense for the first conjugation verb 'amare', 'to love'.
amabo I will (shall) love amabis You (singular) will love amabit He, she, it will love amabimus We will love amabitis You (plural) will love amabunt They will love
This method of producing the future tense in Latin was replaced in the Romance languages by another form using the infinitive plus an ending.
Future tense in French
French has three forms of future tense: the futur proche, the futur simple, and the futur parfait
Futur simple
The futur simple is made by simply taking the infinitive of the verb and adding the correct form of avoir (to have) to the end of the word. In the nous and vous form of the word, the ending is instead just -ons and -ez, respectively. However, there are also some French verbs for which an irregular stem is used, such as aller (to go, futur simple stem = ir-) and etre (to be, futur simple stem = ser-). For instance:
Je mange I eat Je mangerai I will eat Nous allons We go Nous irons We will go
The futur simple usually refers to events that will happen further away in time than the futur proche.
Futur proche
The futur proche uses the correct present form of aller (to go) and then has the infinitive after: je mange, je vais manger = I eat, I will eat.
Notice that the futur proche, which resembles the be-going to future, actually translates as the will future.
Futur parfait
Equivalent of English I will have [verb]. Formed by using the future form of aller or être, plus the past participle.
Examples: J'aurai fini = I will have finished
Il aura mangé = He will have eaten
Je serai parti = I will have left
Il sera venu = He will have come
Future Tense in Spanish
In Spanish, there are three main tenses that describe the future: the futuro simple, futuro con "ir", and the futuro perfecto.
Futuro Simple
The futuro simple is formed by, excluding the irregular verbs (e.g. querer, to want, or salir, to go out), appending the following to the end of the infinitive form of a verb:
| Ending | Verb Form |
| -é | 1st person singular |
| -ás | 2nd person informal singular |
| -á | 3rd person singular, 2nd person formal singular |
| -emos | 1st person plural |
| -áis | 2nd person informal plural |
| -án | 3rd person plural, 2nd person formal plural |
The English equivalent is "will/shall verb."
Irregular Stems of the Futuro Simple
Irregular stems include:
| Verb (Meaning) | Stem |
| salir (to go out) | saldr- |
| venir (to come) | vendr- |
| tener (to have) | tendr- |
| poner (to put) | pondr- |
| poder (to be able) | podr- |
| valer (to be worth) | valdr- |
| haber (to have) | habr- |
| saber (to know) | sabr- |
| caber (to fit) | cabr- |
| hacer (to do, to make) | har- |
| decir (to say, to tell) | dir- |
| querer (to want) | querr- |
Note that these irregular stems are also used in the conditional tense.
Futuro con "Ir"
The futuro con "ir" is, as its name implies, formed by using the present form of ir, to go, the preposition a, and the infinitive form of the desired verb. Usually, this translates in English as "to be going to verb."
Futuro Perfecto
The futuro perfecto is formed by using the simple future form of the verb haber, to have, and the past participle of the desired verb.
The English equivalent is "will have past participle of verb."
See also: past tense, present tense, grammatical aspect.
