The future tense
In the future tense English has several ways of expressing this. You can use a structure with ‘going to’ + verb to refer to something in the near future, or you can use ‘will’ + verb. When it is clear from the context that you are referring to the future, you can also use the continuous present tense form: ‘This afternoon I am working from home.’
The two main forms in German
German also has different ways of referring to future events.
• The easiest and most common way is to use the present tense
Heute Abend bleibe ich zu Hause. This evening I am staying at home.
• Another option is to use werden + infinitive:
Am Wochenende werde ich auf eine Party gehen. At the weekend I’ll go to a party.
Using the present tense
Speakers of German mainly use the present tense to refer to the future when the context makes it clear that you are referring to a future event. Look at the following examples:
Wir gehen heute ins Theater.
We’re going to the theatre today.
Fahrt ihr nach Italien in den Ferien?
Will you be going to Italy in your holidays?
Er macht Bratwurst zum Abendessen.
He’ll be making sausage for supper.
As you can see, there are often bits of information in the sentence which suggest the future. In the first example above, the word heute ‘today’ indicates that the event will be taking place later in the day. The second and third examples are even clearer: in den Ferien ‘in the holidays’ and zum Abendessen ‘for supper’ clearly state that the event referred to will take place in the future.
Expressions indicating the future
There are quite a few words which give clear indications of a time in the future. Here are some examples:
bald soon
später later
morgen tomorrow
in 10 Minuten in 10 minutes
in einer Woche in a week
heute abend tonight
nächsten Monat next month
There are many more such expressions. Whenever you are using one of these words, you can quite easily use the present tense because it is evident that you are not speaking about the present. Look at the following examples:
Ich bin bald fertig.
I’ll be ready soon.
Wir kommen später.
We’ll come later.
Er hat morgen eine Prüfung.
He’s got an exam tomorrow.
In einer Woche sind wir in Italien!
In a week’s time we’ll be in Italy!
Using werden + infinitive
The other way of talking about future events uses grammatical forms whichare similar in English and in German.
English uses ‘will’ + the infinitive of the main verb and German uses the finite
form of werden + the infinitive of the main verb. German uses this future tense with werden + infinitive mostly in written German, when making a prediction, indicating probability or emphasising a point:
Morgen wird es regnen. Tomorrow it will rain.
Sie werden wahrscheinlich nach Mallorca fliegen They will probably fly to Majorca.
Ich werde in Mai mein Abitur machen I’ll sit my A levels in May.
