Future Tense (das Futur)
The Future Tense in English:
English forms the future tense in several ways:
- 1) by using the progressive present tense when the context makes the future meaning clear:
| “I’m seeing her tomorrow.” |
| “We’re taking the test on Friday.” |
- 2) by combining the verbs “will” or, less frequently, “shall” with the infinitive, not including “to”:
| “I will do it tomorrow.” |
| “We shall see.” |
- 3) by combining the verb “to go” in the progressive present form with the infinitive, including “to”:
| “I am going to pay you back when I get my allowance.” |
| “Someday she’s going to get her comeuppance.” |
The future tense can also indicate a present likelihood:
| “I am going to pay you back when I get my allowance.” |
| “Someday she’s going to get her comeuppance.” |
English has a future perfect tense to talk about a past event from the perspective of the future:
| “I will have finished the paper by Monday.” |
| “By the time you get this letter I will have gone to Rio.” |
The future perfect tense is also used to indicate a past likelihood, one that has consequences for the present or future:
| “As you will have already heard, the gym will be closed today” |
| “You will have noticed that we no longer have a convertible.” |
The Future Tense in German:
Like English, German can talk about future events in the present tense when the context is clear:
| Wir essen heute Abend in der Küche. |
We’re eating in the kitchen tonight. |
| Wir sehen uns morgen. |
We’re meeting tomorrow. |
| Er macht das erst Samstag. |
He’s not doing that until Saturday. |
Otherwise German uses the auxiliary verb “werden” with the infinitive:
| Sie wird dir alles sagen. |
She’ll tell you everything. |
| In zehn Jahren werde ich zu alt sein. |
In ten years, I’ll be too old. |
| Die Kinder werden das nicht sehen wollen. |
The children won’t want to see that. |
Like English, German can also express present probability with the future tense, often in combination with adverbs such as “bestimmt” (certainly), “sicher” (certainly), “vielleicht” (perhaps), “wahrscheinlich” (probably), or “wohl” (probably):
| Die Kinder werden wohl schon zu Hause sein. |
The children will probably already be home. |
| Du wirst uns vielleicht besuchen wollen. |
You will perhaps want to visit us. |
| Er wird jetzt bestimmt vorm Fernseher sitzen. |
He’ll surely be sitting in front of the television now. |
The Future Perfect Tense in German (Futur II):
Like English, German has a future perfect tense that is used to talk about what will in the future be a past event. It is constructed by putting the auxiliary verb of the perfect tense (“haben” or “sein”) into a future form:
| Bevor wir nach Hause kommen, werden sie alles aufgegessen haben. |
Before we get home they will have eaten everything up. |
| Sie wird schon weggegangen sein. |
She will have already gone. |
| Werden Sie das gemacht haben, bevor wir Sie abholen? |
Will you have already done that before we pick you up? |
The future perfect can also express a past probability:
| Sie werden das sicher gründlich gelesen haben. |
You will surely have read that thoroughly. |
| Er wird das wohl gewusst haben. |
He probably will have known that. |
| Du wirst das bestimmt schon gehört haben. |
You will certainly have already heard that. |
]]>
