The Baby Future

We all know that present tense is used a lot, but what about the future tense. I would wager to say that at least 95% of all purposes for using the future tense could be solved by using the present tense – at least to for Spanish. Why, you ask? Well, let me break it down in English for you.

A lot of what we say in English about future events is usually events that are in the near-future like tomorrow, next week, this coming weekend, etc. We say, “I’m going to see the new thrasher movie this weekend.” Or, “We’re leaving for the cabin on Friday.” These are all future events that are coming soon, but we say them using the present tense.

Spanish does the same thing. Enter “The Baby Future.” I heard this called baby because it is using the present tense of the verb ir which means to go. The whole construction is using this verb tied with the word a and the infinitive of another verb. Here’s what that looks like:

Ir + a + infinitive of verb

You conjugate the verb ir to whoever is doing the action: I, you, s/he, we, they, you all. You’ll want to refresh your memory of conjugating ir to be able to do this quickly and well. Let’s recap that here:

I = Voy

You = Vas (for friends and family)

S/he, it or you (formal) = Va

We = Vamos

(Spain) You all or they = Vaís

They or you all = Van

Now let’s take an example. We will say that my friend and I are going to watch a movie at my house tomorrow night. This is what that will look like:

Vamos a mirar una película mañana por la noche.

Remember that the majority of the time you need to express yourself in the future, you can use the Baby Future. You can also just use the present tense itself. Spanish is not as strict when it comes to the future as we are in English placing the word will before a verb. Try it, I’m sure you’ll get use to it in no time. ¡Hasta luego!