Voy a hablar or hablaré? Talking about the future in Spanish
Going to, or will: two futures, and how to choose between them
Spanish has two everyday ways to talk about the future. Voy a hablar, I am going to speak, is for plans that are already decided. Hablaré, I will speak, is for predictions and plans in general. Both are correct, and the difference is close to the one English makes between “going to” and “will”.
Voy a hablar is the easier one to build: the present of ir, then a, then the verb you want, unchanged.
= I am going to speak
On this page
How do you build voy a + verb?
Take ir, to go, in the present: voy, vas, va, vamos, van, and vais for vosotros in Spain. Add a. Then add the infinitive of the verb you want, exactly as it appears in the dictionary.
| Person | Am Going To |
|---|---|
| yo | voy a hablarI am going to speak |
| tú | vas a hablaryou are going to speak |
| él / ella / usted | va a hablarhe or she is going to speak; you (Ud.) are going to speak |
| nosotros | vamos a hablarwe are going to speak |
| vosotros (Spain) | vais a hablaryou all are going to speak |
| ellos / ellas / ustedes | van a hablarthey or you all are going to speak |
Only ir changes, so once you know its present forms, every verb in the language is ready to use. The second verb never does any work at all.
When do you use going to, and when will?
voy a hablar
Am Going To
- A decided plan
- An intention for the near future
- The decision is already made
Voy a hablar con ella mañana.I am going to talk to her tomorrow.
hablaré
Future Simple
- A prediction or forecast
- A plan stated neutrally
- Key words: mañana, el lunes, pronto
Hablaré con ella mañana.I will talk to her tomorrow.
The English is a good rough guide. If you would say “am, is or are going to” plus a verb, it is Am Going To. If you would say “will” plus a verb, it is the Future Simple. And Am Going To is used constantly in everyday spoken Spanish, so it is the one you will hear most.
Two cautions, both from the Real Academia’s guidance on the tenses. Across Latin America, voy a + verb is often used where English says “will”, so you will hear it far more than the Future Simple. And the Future Simple has a second job that English “will” does not: a guess about the present, the way English says “it is probably”.
What does the same plan look like both ways?
nemiria’s Compare tenses view holds the vocabulary still and changes only the tense, which makes the difference easy to see.
| Am Going To | Future Simple |
|---|---|
| Esta tarde voy a tomar café, no té.This afternoon I am going to drink coffee, not tea. | Mañana tomaré café, no té.Tomorrow I will drink coffee, not tea. |
| Ella va a llamar a su jefe esta tarde.She is going to call her boss this afternoon. | Ella llamará a su jefe mañana.She will call her boss tomorrow. |
| Vamos a cenar juntos esta noche.We are going to have dinner together tonight. | Cenaremos juntos el domingo.We will have dinner together on Sunday. |
How is the Future Simple built?
Keep the whole infinitive and add one set of endings: -é, -ás, -á, -emos, -án, and -éis for vosotros. They are the same endings for every verb: hablaré, comeré, viviré. Only a handful of verbs change the stem, such as haré, tendré and podré; everything else is regular.
What about plans that did not happen?
Put ir in the Imperfect instead, iba, ibas, iba, íbamos, iban (ibais in Spain), and you have Was Going To: a plan in the past, often one that fell through, so it is often followed by pero, but.
- Iba a hablar con ella, pero se me olvidó. I was going to talk to her, but I forgot.
- Ella iba a vivir en el extranjero, pero cambió de planes. She was going to live abroad, but she changed her plans.
If the plan is still on, it is back to voy a: Voy a hablar con ella, I am going to talk to her.
How nemiria teaches this
Am Going To and the Future Simple each have their own table and explanation card in nemiria, with tap-to-hear audio on every form, and Compare tenses shows them one after the other with the same sentences. Was Going To comes later, at Advanced.
How to practise
Learn the present of ir first. Voy, vas, va, vamos, van, and vais in Spain. With those, you can talk about any plan from your first week.
Then say your week out loud. Voy a for what is booked, -é for what you expect. The contrast sticks faster when it is your own plans.
Read next
Am Going To and the Future Simple are both in nemiria’s free Foundation level. Get it on the App Store.