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Talking About the Future in Portuguese

Below we will discuss the three main methods to talk about the future in Portuguese:

1. Using Ir + Infinitive

Similar to the English construction, to discuss the future, Portuguese uses the verb irto go , followed by a verb in its infinitive form. First let’s see the present tense conjugation for the verb ir, since this is an irregular verb:

Indicativo

Ela vai à festaShe goes to the party

    eu vouI go tu vaisYou sing.,inf. go ele / ela vaiHe / She goes você vaiyou formal go nós vamosWe go eles / elas vãothey go vocês vãoyou pl. go

This ir + infinitive phrasing is known as the informal future, since it’s not a separate tense, but is the typical way to talk about the future.
Aside from very formal or literary contexts, this method is the most common. It’s also the easiest, because as long as you can conjugate ir in the present tense, you just need to know the next verb’s infinitive form. Let’s see how this works with the verbs correr and chegar in the examples below.

Eu vou correrI am going to run
Ela vai chegar amanhãShe is going to arrive tomorrow
As you may have noticed, the verb ir is conjugated in the present tense, and must agree with the subject it is referring to. It would be a good idea to get very familiar with the conjugation of this verb:

Indicativo

Vocês vão visitar o jardim zoológicoYou pl. are going to visit the zoo

    eu vouI go tu vaisYou sing.,inf. go ele / ela vaiHe / She goes você vaiyou formal go nós vamosWe go eles / elas vãothey go vocês vãoyou pl. go

Tips

  • One of the most common traps for learners transitioning from Spanish is to add an a after the ir conjugation, as in the Spanish sentence “voy a correr”. In Portuguese, this never happens. Instead, you would say “vou correr”.
  • Even though it seems to make logical sense, you would never use this ir + infinitive construction with the verb ir itself, or with its counterpart, the verb virto come . For example, you shouldn’t say “vou ir” or “ela vai ir” for the translation of “…going to go”. Although it’s sometimes heard in specific regions or other countries (including Brazil), this would make most Portuguese natives cringe! Instead, you would conjugate ir in the present tense, as we will describe in the next section.

2. Using the Present Tense

When it’s clear we’re talking about the future, such as when using a word like amanhãtomorrow or an expression like daqui a uma semanaa week from now , the present tense can be used:
Eles chegam amanhãThey arrive tomorrow
Ela faz anos daqui a uma semanaShe will have a birthday a week from now

3. Using “Futuro do Indicativo”

In formal and literary contexts, the futuro do indicativosimple future tense is used.
Ela chegará amanhãShe will arrive tomorrow
Eu partirei amanhãI will leave tomorrow
This is also an easy verb conjugation, because with the exception of only 3 verbs, the conjugation is formed just by adding an ending onto the infinitive verb (-ei, -ás, , -emos, -ão).
Below are a few common verbs, conjugated in the future tense:

Indicativo

Nós falaremos com ele amanhãWe will talk to him tomorrow.

    eu falareiI will speak tu falarásYou sing.,inf. will speak ele / ela falaráHe / She will speak você falaráyou formal will speak nós falaremoswe will speak eles / elas falarãothey will speak vocês falarãoyou pl. will speak

Indicativo

Se elas dirigirem o projeto estaremos em boas mãos.If they run the project, we'll be in good hands.

    eu estareiI will be tu estarásYou sing.,inf. will be ele / ela estaráHe / She will be você estaráyou formal will be nós estaremoswe will be eles / elas estarãothey will be vocês estarãoyou pl. will be

Indicativo

Se tu puseres aquele casaco não terás frio.If you put on that jacket, you won't be cold.

    eu tereii will have tu terásYou sing.,inf. will have ele / ela teráHe / She will have você teráyou formal will have nós teremoswe will have eles / elas terãothey will have vocês terãoyou pl. will have

3 Irregular Verbs

The only irregular verbs in the futuro do indicativo are fazer, trazer, and dizer.
In these cases, we must first replace the ending -zer with -r (to get far, trar, and dir, respectively), before adding the ending:

Indicativo

Se vocês concordarem faremos assim.If you agree, we'll do it like this.

    eu fareiI will do tu farásYou sing.,inf. will do ele / ela faráHe / She will do você faráyou formal will do nós faremoswe will do eles / elas farãothey will do vocês farãoyou pl. will do

Indicativo

    eu trareiI will bring tu trarásYou sing.,inf. will bring ele / ela traráHe / She will bring você traráyou formal will bring nós traremoswe will bring eles / elas trarãothey will bring vocês trarãoyou pl. will bring

Indicativo

Nós diremos o que quisermosWe will say what we want.

    eu direiI will say tu dirásYou sing.,inf. will say ele / ela diráHe / She will say você diráyou formal will say nós diremoswe will say eles / elas dirãothey will say vocês dirãoyou pl. will say

In this unit, we’ll cover the informal future (ir + infinitive) form, since, as we said earlier, it’s the most common. If you want to practice with the more formal futuro do indicativo as well, you can do so in the Verbs section.

Comments

    • At the end of the Learning Note, you can click on “Mark as Complete” and then proceed to the next lesson.

    • With Portuguese, the word never rarely applies, haha. But it’s true that it’s not often used in everyday conversation, unless you intentionally want to sound more sophisticated or formal.

  • I was looking at all the conjugations of ‘ir’ and I see that it too has its own future tense. I’m curious if and how this is ever used. Would I only expect to see it in formal or written contexts?

    • Olá, Michael! That’s correct, the verb ir also has a future tense, but we often use the present tense for the same purpose. The actual future forms sound indeed very formal 🙂 You’re most likely to come across them in very formal speech/writing (it’s usually fine to also use the present tense in formal contexts, though).

  • Very explanation. Basically operates like in French ; so I’m clear enough with this lesson
    Thank you

    • In an isolated sentence using the present tense, it may not be clear whether someone is referring to the present or future, but in context it will make sense.

      So for example, if someone says Amanhã eu venho mais cedo – Tomorrow I’ll come earlier, even though venho is in the present tense, you know it’s referring to the future since they mentioned tomorrow.

      Or, let’s say you were discussing plans to go to the beach with someone and they said Apanho-te em casa! – I’ll pick you up at home! Even though it’s in the present tense and no specific time was mentioned, it’s clear that they mean in the future. It wouldn’t make sense to say I pick you up at home in that context. Similarly, if you said Vou buscar a máquina fotográfica – I’ll go get the camera as you’re walking out the door, it’s implied that you mean you are about to go get the camera.

  • Why does her voice go down instead of up on all of the accented syllables? For example it’s tra RAH, not TRA rah.

    • A rising intonation is more common in interrogative or exclamatory sentences. In normal statements or when simply pronouncing words in isolation as in these examples, a rising intonation is usually not expected or required, even if the stressed syllable happens to be the last one 🙂

  • This verb FAZAER is very confusing. Fazer means to do or to make right. Then in the below sentence why have you used fazer and not ter.
    “Ela faz anos daqui a uma semana (She will have a birthday a week from now)”

    • You’re right, it’s a confusing verb sometimes! You’ll find that there are a lot of verbs which translate quite differently in different contexts. This is because every language has different ways of wording certain concepts. We say “to have a birthday” in English, but in Portuguese we say “fazer anos”. So even though the literal meaning is “to make years”, that wouldn’t make sense in English, so we translate the phrase as a whole to “to have a birthday”. If you want to add this phrase to your Smart Review, you can do so from here: fazer anos 🙂

  • One of the other units has the sentence: Pergunto-me o que irá acontecer. This looks like the Ir + infinitve form, but not using the present tense of Ir.

    Is this one of those “really rare, don’t worry about things”, or is this a form we should expect to come across and need to become comfortable with?

    • Olá! It’s a more formal/elegant version of ‘ir + infinitive’, where instead of the present tense, the auxiliary verb is in the future. “Irá acontecer” is one step below “acontecerá” (the future conjugation of ‘acontecer’), but two steps above “vai acontecer” (the typical informal future structure). I would say it’s not something you need to actively worry about.

  • The following two phrases are used in the examples and workings of the indicativo conjugation of ir:
    Se eu falar sobre isso ela vai ficar furiosa.
    Se tu a provocares vocês vão discutir outra vez.
    Looking at the similarities and structure of these sentences for consistency, I wondered why falar has not been conjugated in the first sentence?
    Why is it not, Se eu falo sobre isso ela vai ficar furiosa – ?

    • Olá! In both cases, the first verbs (‘falar’ and ‘provocar’) are conjugated in the future subjunctive. It’s just that by coincidence, in the first sentence, the conjugation looks just the same as the infinitive 🙂

  • When you say this is used in literary contexts… Do you mean in formal types of writing only?, Or is it used in informal written communication also?

    • Olá! We’re referring to formal types of speech/writing. The future tense conjugations are not often used in any informal context.

  • Is “ser” a possible exception to formal use? I feel like I hear “será” more than “vai ser” for example (just anectodal). *O que será, será, whatever will be, will be. The future’s not ours to see, O que será, será. haha :)* Thanks Doris Day.

    • Olá! Not necessarily, but as each person navigates different contexts, our experiences may vary. Let me just note that “será” can be used in phrases such as “Será que…?” or “Será assim…?” (as well the already mentioned idiom “O que será, será”), which are neutral in terms of formality.

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