Topic:
Learn the handful of irregular forms of the future tense.
Irregular, but Easy
While there are a number of irregular verbs in the future tense, they are easy to learn and remember.
In each case, the infinitive is modified in some way before the normal future tense endings are added.
Many teaching resources split these up into groups depending on how the infinitive is changed. Is a letter removed?, Is a letter changed?, etc.
I don't find that approach to be worth the effort. The verbs are few, and the changes themselves are easier to remember than the groupings!
We will start with tener.
Preterite conjugation of tener (to have)
You can see that the normal infinitive tener has changed to tendr- as the root.
Example: Tendremos más mañana. meaning We will have more tomorrow.
The verb venir does exactly the same thing:
Preterite conjugation of venir (to come)
Example: Vendrá a la fiesta. meaning She will come to the party.
This list includes all of the future tense stem changes:
| Infinitive | Future Stem | Meaning | Yo Form |
|---|---|---|---|
| tener | tendr- | will have | tendré |
| poner | pondr- | will put | pondré |
| valer | valdr- | will be worth | valdré |
| salir | saldr- | will go out | saldré |
| venir | vendr- | will come | vendré |
| poder | podr- | will be able | podré |
| caber | cabr- | will fit | cabré |
| haber | habr- | will have | habré |
| saber | sabr- | will know | sabré |
| querer | querr- | will want | querré |
| hacer | har- | will do | haré |
| decir | dir- | will say | diré |
You will notice that many of these verbs are also irregular in other tenses. At least they are consistent trouble-makers!
With just a little time in the exercises, these conjugations will fall into place.
Just to make sure you get the pattern, let's look at the entire conjugation for hacer.
Preterite conjugation of hacer (to do)
Compound Verbs
As we saw in other tenses, compound verbs usually conjugate the same way as their root verb.
That's true here too, so let's look at proponer which means to propose.
Since it ends with -poner, it conjugates just like poner.
Preterite conjugation of proponer
An unexpected compound verb
Here is one that is tricky. Satisfacer is actually a compound verb that comes from Latin "satis" (enough) and "facere" (to make). That's actually hacer in Spanish.
Thus, satisfacer conjugates like hacer.
I will satisfy is satisfaré.
Additional Study Resources
Videos:
Websites:
Books:
On to the Exercises and the Quiz
To practice the verb forms in this lesson, click Practice Exercises below.
Whenever you want, you can take the quiz for this lesson.
Practice Exercises
Take the Quiz
Previous Lesson
