The label historical future subjunctive needs a warning in Catalan. Unlike Spanish cantare or Portuguese cantar, Catalan did not preserve a distinct productive future-subjunctive paradigm in -re. Older Catalan normally used the future indicative in many conditional, temporal, and relative clauses whose meaning was hypothetical; contemporary Catalan often uses the present indicative or present subjunctive instead. A form such as farà in an old ordinance can therefore do work that English translates with “whoever does,” but it is morphologically future indicative, not a hidden subjunctive.
For the productive modern morphology itself, review future formation and future-time present subjunctives.
This distinction matters in both directions. It prevents readers from misclassifying genuine Catalan futures, and it prevents writers from importing Spanish legal forms such as fuere into Catalan.
The form you will actually meet
The productive historical form is the ordinary synthetic future. Here is the complete paradigm of cantar; older spelling may vary, but the person-number endings are recognizable.
| Person | Future indicative | Typical modern replacement in a nonasserted clause |
|---|---|---|
| jo | cantaré | canti |
| tu | cantaràs | cantis |
| ell / ella / vostè | cantarà | canti |
| nosaltres | cantarem | cantem |
| vosaltres | cantareu | canteu |
| ells / elles / vostès | cantaran | cantin |
The future carries stress on its ending: cantaré, cantaràs, cantarà. First- and second-person plural cantarem, cantareu have no written accent under ordinary spelling rules. With an irregular future, the same endings attach to a special stem: fer → faré, venir → vindré, tenir → tindré, poder → podré, haver → hauré. Those are future-indicative forms even inside a semantically contingent clause.
Tot poblador que vindrà a establir-se a la vila haurà de jurar els capítols.
Every settler who comes to establish himself in the town shall swear to the provisions. (historical legal style)
Qui no pagarà dins el termini perdrà el dret de recurs.
Whoever does not pay within the time limit shall lose the right of appeal. (archaic legal-style example)
In modern standard prose, those clauses would normally be que vingui and qui no pagui. The future does not assert that a particular settler will arrive or that a known person will fail to pay. The indefinite antecedent and the rule-like context supply nonassertion; the verb locates the possible event after the document's discourse time.
Why older Catalan used a future here
Mood and tense answer different questions. Tense locates an eventuality relative to discourse time; mood reflects whether the speaker presents it as asserted, desired, doubted, or merely possible. Older Catalan could leave the hypothetical status to the clause type and mark posteriority overtly with the future. Modern Catalan more often lets the present subjunctive carry nonassertion while the surrounding main clause supplies future time.
Quan arribaràs a la cort, presentaràs aquesta carta al canceller.
When you arrive at court, you shall present this letter to the chancellor. (older pattern; also admitted in contemporary standard Catalan)
Quan arribis al jutjat, presenta aquesta carta a secretaria.
When you arrive at the courthouse, submit this letter to the clerk's office. (contemporary standard)
Both subordinate events are later than the moment of speaking. The modern arribis is called “present” because of its morphology, not because the arrival is simultaneous with speech. Future indicative after quan remains possible in contemporary standard Catalan, especially when it makes posteriority explicit, though the present subjunctive is now more usual in this kind of pending temporal clause. English likewise uses a present form after when for future reference, so translation alone cannot identify the Catalan mood.
Relative clauses show the same change:
Els qui treballaran en l'obra rebran jornal i manutenció.
Those who work on the project shall receive wages and board. (older administrative style)
Els qui treballin en l'obra rebran dietes.
Those who work on the project will receive allowances. (contemporary standard; group not yet identified)
If the group is known and its participation is asserted, the modern indicative is natural: Els tècnics que treballaran demà ja tenen l'acreditació. Choosing a mood just because a clause begins with que misses the central distinction: definite and asserted versus open and nonasserted reference.
Conditional clauses and the modern replacements
In older Catalan, future indicative could occur after si to present a possible later condition. Contemporary standard Catalan uses the present indicative for an open condition: si ho fas, ho veuràs. The imperfect subjunctive instead marks remoteness or a hypothetical scenario: si ho fessis, ho veuries.
| Pattern | Example | Status |
|---|---|---|
| future in si-clause | Si escriureu al vostre germà... | (archaic) |
| present indicative | Si escriviu al vostre germà... | open condition, contemporary |
| imperfect subjunctive | Si escrivíssiu al vostre germà... | remote proposal |
Si demà parleu amb la notària, demaneu-li una còpia autenticada.
If you speak with the notary tomorrow, ask her for a certified copy. (contemporary neutral)
Si demà parléssiu amb la notària, podríeu aclarir el dubte.
If you were to speak with the notary tomorrow, you could clear up the doubt. (remote suggestion)
The second sentence is not selected by a mechanical “si takes subjunctive” rule. Its conditional main clause podríeu and the speaker's distancing create an unreal or tentative frame. An ordinary possible condition takes indicative parleu.
What endings in -r or -re may be
A manuscript form ending in -r may simply be an infinitive: fer, venir, complir. A finite form containing -r- may be a future or conditional: farà, vindran, compliria. Forms in -ra can be old pluperfect-indicative forms and, in modern Valencian, imperfect-subjunctive forms: cantara, haguera. None of those facts creates a Catalan future subjunctive in Spanish -re.
Spanish cantare, hiciere, fuere and compound hubiere cantado are genuine historical future-subjunctive forms. If they appear verbatim inside a Catalan archival document, first ask whether the passage is Spanish, a formula copied from another legal tradition, or a code-switched quotation. Translate their function into Catalan with the construction appropriate to the clause:
Qualsevol que incompleixi aquesta obligació respondrà dels danys.
Anyone who breaches this obligation shall be liable for the damages. (contemporary formal Catalan)
Un cop hagi vençut el termini, no s'admetrà cap esmena.
Once the deadline has expired, no amendment will be admitted. (contemporary formal Catalan)
The perfect subjunctive hagi vençut marks anteriority relative to the future admission decision. Copying Spanish hubiere vencido would be a morphological error, not elevated Catalan.
Weak pronouns in old and modern prose
Contemporary weak pronouns normally precede a finite future: ho farà, no l'admetran, se'n recordarà. Medieval and deliberately archaizing prose may show the future's historical components separated by a pronoun, traditionally called mesoclisis: infinitive + clitic + a form of haver. Thus a spelling such as dir-vos-he corresponds functionally to modern us diré. It is evidence for the origin of the Romance future, not future-subjunctive morphology.
Dir-vos-he la decisió quan el consell hagi acabat de deliberar.
I shall tell you the decision when the council has finished deliberating. (archaic/literary mesoclisis)
Us diré la decisió quan el consell hagi acabat de deliberar.
I'll tell you the decision when the council has finished deliberating. (contemporary standard)
Do not place a clitic after an ordinary finite future in neutral modern prose. Diré-vos is (archaic/literary); us diré is the productive pattern.
Mini-dialogue: editing an old clause
—Al document hi diu «qui no compareixerà perdrà el dipòsit». És un subjuntiu? —No: compareixerà és futur d'indicatiu amb valor eventual; avui escriuríem «qui no comparegui perdrà el dipòsit».
—The document says 'whoever does not appear shall lose the deposit.' Is that a subjunctive? —No: compareixerà is future indicative with contingent force; today we would write 'qui no comparegui perdrà el dipòsit.'
The editor preserves the legal meaning while updating how Catalan distributes future time and nonassertion.
Common Mistakes
1. Importing a Spanish future subjunctive.
❌ El qui fuere responsable pagarà les costes.
Incorrect Catalan—fuere is a Spanish historical future subjunctive.
✅ Qui en sigui responsable pagarà les costes.
Whoever is responsible will pay the costs.
2. Calling every old subordinate future a subjunctive form.
❌ En «qui vindrà», vindrà és futur de subjuntiu.
Incorrect analysis—vindrà is morphologically future indicative, even when the referent is hypothetical.
✅ En «qui vindrà», vindrà és futur d'indicatiu amb valor eventual.
In 'qui vindrà,' vindrà is future indicative with contingent force.
3. Using the future after si in ordinary contemporary prose.
❌ Si tindràs temps, revisa l'annex.
Incorrect in contemporary standard Catalan for an ordinary open condition.
✅ Si tens temps, revisa l'annex.
If you have time, review the appendix.
4. Choosing subjunctive from the connector alone.
❌ Els tècnics que treballin demà ja tenen l'acreditació.
Misleading if the sentence asserts which known technicians are scheduled to work.
✅ Els tècnics que treballaran demà ja tenen l'acreditació.
The technicians who will work tomorrow already have their accreditation.
5. Confusing the periphrastic past with prospective anar a.
❌ Ahir van a publicar l'edicte.
Incorrect for a completed past publication; the preposition changes the construction.
✅ Ahir van publicar l'edicte.
Yesterday they published the notice.
Key Takeaways
- Catalan has no productive native six-person future-subjunctive tense parallel to Spanish cantare.
- Older Catalan often used future indicative in hypothetical temporal, relative, and conditional clauses.
- Contemporary replacements depend on meaning: present indicative after open si, present subjunctive for nonasserted future relatives and temporal clauses, and imperfect subjunctive for remote conditions.
- Historical mesoclisis such as dir-vos-he belongs to the development of the future and is (archaic/literary).
- Identify morphology, discourse time, and assertion status separately; an English translation with “shall” does not by itself name the Catalan mood.
Now practice Catalan
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Start learning Catalan →Related Topics
- Forming the Simple FutureA2 — Build regular Catalan future forms from the infinitive base and the endings -é, -às, -à, -em, -eu, and -an.
- Future Time Clauses and the SubjunctiveB1 — Present pending future events after quan, fins que, tan bon punt, and abans que with the appropriate Catalan mood and tense.
- Subjunctive in Indefinite and Negative Relative ClausesB2 — Choose between indicative and subjunctive in Catalan relative clauses according to whether the antecedent is identified, asserted, sought, or denied.
- The Simple Past: Regular ParadigmsC1 — Recognize and form the regular Catalan synthetic past across the three conjugations, with correct stress and spelling.
- Subjunctive Variation Across StandardsC1 — A comparative guide to Central, Valencian, and Balearic present and imperfect subjunctive paradigms within the Catalan standard language.
- Medieval and Early Modern Past SystemsC2 — Decode older Catalan narratives by separating the synthetic past, the emerging go-past, and compound tenses with haver or ésser.