How to Teach the Future Tense in Spanish

How to Teach the Simple Future Tense in Spanish

• 1

  Explain the use of the Simple Future tense in Spanish. Tell the students that the future tense in Spanish is used to say that "will" happen:

  He will go to Mexico tomorrow

  "El irá a Méjico mañana."

  And that it is also used to express probability in the present, such as in this example:

  He is probably traveling alone.

  "Estará viajando solo."

• 2

  Write two infinitive verbs on the board, one regular and one irregular. In this example, use "comer" and "tener."

• 3

  Point out the stems of the regular and irregular verbs on the board. Following our example, you would point out that the stem for other verb conjugations of the regular verb "comer" is "comer-," and remind the students that the irregular stem for "tener" is "tendr-."

• 4

  Now, rewrite the stem of these verbs six times, one for each subject pronoun in Spanish (Yo, Tú, Él / Ella / Usted, Nosotros / Nosotras, Vosotros / Vosotras, Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes). Make two lists, to look like this:

  comer_ tendr_

  comer_ tendr_

  comer_ tendr_

  comer_ tendr_

  comer_ tendr_

  comer_ tendr_

• 5

  Explain that the simple future tense in Spanish is very easy and requires memorizing only six endings that are to be used with all verb stems, whether regular or irregular.

• 6

  Fill in the stems you wrote on the board, with the future tense endings in Spanish: -é, -ás, -á, -emos, -éis, -án. Try to use another color marker or chalk, to highlight these endings.

• 7

  Have students copy what you wrote on the board and to come up with their own examples using the future tense with the verb stems they are already familiar with.