Future Simple (Futuro Simple): Irregular Verbs

📚 Welcome to our lesson on the irregular verbs in the Future Simple (Futuro Simple).

In the previous lesson, we learned the simple and consistent rule for forming the future tense with regular verbs: take the full infinitive and add the future endings (-é, -ás, -á, -emos, -éis, -án).

However, as with many Spanish tenses, some important verbs don't follow this rule. The good news is that there are only about 12 common irregular verbs, and they often follow a predictable pattern. Even better, once you learn the irregular stem, the endings you add are the exact same regular future endings you already know!

Let's break them down into three groups to make them easier to remember.

👉 Group 1: Verbs that add a '-d-'
For these verbs, the vowel in the infinitive ending (-er or -ir) is replaced by a '-d-'.

🔹 Poner (to put) → pondr-

• Yo pondré la mesa. (I will set the table.)
  🔹 Tener (to have) → tendr-
• Tendremos que estudiar más. (We will have to study more.)
  🔹 Salir (to leave/go out) → saldr-
• ¿A qué hora saldrás del trabajo? (What time will you leave work?)
  🔹 Venir (to come) → vendr-
• Mi familia vendrá a visitarme. (My family will come to visit me.)
  🔹 Valer (to be worth) → valdr-
• Valdrá la pena el esfuerzo. (The effort will be worth it.)

👉 Group 2: Verbs that drop a vowel
These verbs drop the 'e' from the infinitive ending before adding the future endings.

🔹 Poder (to be able to/can) → podr-

• Podrás hablar español con fluidez. (You will be able to speak Spanish fluently.)
  🔹 Saber (to know) → sabr-
• No sabré la respuesta hasta mañana. (I won't know the answer until tomorrow.)
  🔹 Querer (to want) → querr- (Note the double 'r'!)
• Ellos querrán ir al cine. (They will want to go to the cinema.)
  🔹 Haber (auxiliary 'to have') → habr-
• This is most commonly used in its third-person singular form: Habrá (There will be).
• Habrá mucha gente en la fiesta. (There will be a lot of people at the party.)
  🔹 Caber (to fit) → cabr-
• ¿Cabrá todo en la maleta? (Will everything fit in the suitcase?)

👉 Group 3: The Truly Irregular
These two highly common verbs have unique stem changes that you just need to memorize.

🔹 Decir (to say/tell) → dir-

• ¿Qué le dirás a tu jefe? (What will you say to your boss?)
  🔹 Hacer (to do/make) → har-
• Haré la compra esta tarde. (I will do the shopping this afternoon.)

💡 A Pro Tip: Compound Verbs
Verbs that are derived from these irregulars follow the same pattern!

• Contener (to contain) → contendr- (like tener)
• Proponer (to propose) → propondr- (like poner)
• Deshacer (to undo) → deshar- (like hacer)
• Predecir (to predict) → predir- (like decir)

✅ Summary:
The key is to memorize the new stem for these 12 verbs. Once you have the stem, the process is the same as for regular verbs:

Irregular Stem + Future Ending (-é, -ás, -á, -emos, -éis, -án)

It might seem like a lot at first, but with practice, these will become second nature, as they are used very frequently in everyday conversation.