Catalan irregular futures do not have irregular endings. They use the same -é, -às, -à, -em, -eu, -an as regular verbs, but attach them to a special stem: fer → faré, poder → podré, tenir → tindré. This sharply limits what must be memorized: one stem predicts all six future forms and usually the conditional as well.
If the endings themselves are new, begin with Forming the Simple Future.
Some forms, such as diré and duré, are transparent from their short infinitives. They belong in the high-frequency set because English and Spanish speakers often try to expand them to nonexistent forms such as direé or copy another language’s stem.
The core stems
| Infinitive | Future stem | First person | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| dir | dir- | diré | I will say/tell |
| dur | dur- | duré | I will carry/bring |
| fer | far- | faré | I will do/make |
| haver | haur- | hauré | I will have… (future auxiliary) |
| poder | podr- | podré | I will be able to |
| saber | sabr- | sabré | I will know |
| tenir | tindr- | tindré | I will have |
| venir | vindr- | vindré | I will come |
| voler | voldr- | voldré | I will want |
Et diré la veritat quan estiguem sols.
I'll tell you the truth when we're alone.
Demà duré el cotxe al taller.
Tomorrow I'll take the car to the repair shop.
No podré venir a la reunió de divendres.
I won't be able to come to Friday's meeting.
Quan vegis el resultat, sabràs per què hi hem insistit tant.
When you see the result, you'll know why we insisted so much.
A complete model: tenir
Once the stem tindr- is known, the paradigm is mechanical.
| Person | Stem + ending | Form |
|---|---|---|
| jo | tindr- + -é | tindré |
| tu | tindr- + -às | tindràs |
| ell/ella/vostè | tindr- + -à | tindrà |
| nosaltres | tindr- + -em | tindrem |
| vosaltres | tindr- + -eu | tindreu |
| ells/elles/vostès | tindr- + -an | tindran |
Dilluns tindrem una resposta definitiva.
On Monday we'll have a definitive answer.
Quant de temps tindreu per acabar el projecte?
How much time will you have to finish the project?
Exactly the same endings create faré, faràs, farà, farem, fareu, faran and every other future in the core list. Accent marks follow the regular rule: the three singular endings carry an accent; the plural endings do not.
Grouping the changes
There is historical logic behind these stems, but no single modern rule reliably derives all of them. Learn them in small shape families.
A short, transparent base: dir- and dur-
Dir and dur simply add the endings: diré, diràs; duré, duràs. Their compounds preserve the same final base: prediré, contradirà, m'enduré. Do not add an extra vowel.
La meteoròloga predirà l'evolució de la tempesta amb les dades noves.
The meteorologist will predict how the storm develops using the new data.
A changed vowel: far- and haur-
Fer uses far- and passes that stem to compounds: desfaré, refarem, satisfaran. Haver uses haur- both as an auxiliary and in existential haver-hi.
Què faràs si demà torna a ploure?
What will you do if it rains again tomorrow?
A la sala hi haurà prou cadires per a tothom.
There will be enough chairs in the room for everyone.
A les sis ja haurem acabat.
By six, we'll already have finished.
The last example is a future perfect: finite haurem plus acabat. The stem remains haur-; the participle adds completion before a future reference point.
A shortened base: podr- and sabr-
Poder and saber lose the unstressed vowel before r: podr-, sabr-. This is why the correct forms are podrem and sabreu, not poderem or sabereu.
Amb una mica d'ajuda, ho podreu acabar avui.
With a little help, you'll be able to finish it today.
No ho sabrem fins que arribin els resultats.
We won't know until the results arrive.
The d-stems: tindr-, vindr-, voldr-
Tenir, venir, and voler have future stems containing dr: tindr-, vindr-, voldr-. Several high-frequency compounds inherit the stem of tenir or venir:
| Family | Infinitive | Future |
|---|---|---|
| tenir | mantenir | mantindré |
| tenir | obtenir | obtindràs |
| tenir | retenir | retindrem |
| tenir | sostenir | sostindran |
| venir | convenir | convindrà |
| venir | intervenir | intervindré |
| venir | prevenir | previndrem |
Mantindrem la reserva fins a les vuit.
We'll hold the reservation until eight.
Si no arriben a un acord, hi intervindrà una mediadora.
If they don't reach an agreement, a mediator will step in.
Al principi no voldran canviar el pla.
At first they won't want to change the plan.
Other useful nontransparent futures
Several verbs beyond the core list deserve early recognition:
| Infinitive | Future | Note |
|---|---|---|
| anar | aniré | uses anir-, not anar- |
| ser/ésser | seré | future is based on ser- |
| cabre | cabré | drops the medial vowel |
| caldre | caldrà | normally impersonal in the third person |
| valer/valdre | valdré | uses valdr- |
No caldrà reservar si hi anem entre setmana.
We won't need to book if we go on a weekday.
There is no honest shortcut that predicts every one of these stems from the infinitive. The efficient strategy is to memorize the first-person future and then generate the other persons with regular endings.
The same stems in the conditional
The future and conditional share their stems. Once you know faré, podré, tindré, and vindré, you also know the bases of faria, podria, tindria, and vindria. Only the endings change.
| Infinitive | Future | Conditional |
|---|---|---|
| fer | faré | faria |
| poder | podré | podria |
| tenir | tindré | tindria |
| venir | vindré | vindria |
Pronouns and clause choice
Weak pronouns precede the finite future: t'ho diré, el duré, no hi podrà venir, se n'aniran. (archaic/literary) postverbal and split future-pronoun patterns found in older texts are not part of the contemporary general model.
Inside a future time clause introduced by quan, tan bon punt, or similar linkers, the present subjunctive normally replaces a future form: Quan vinguis, t'ho diré. The irregular future vindràs is correct in a direct question—Quan vindràs? “When will you come?”—but not in the subordinate time clause. Choose mood from whether the clause asserts or locates an unrealized event, not from the trigger word alone.
Mini-dialogue
—Podràs venir a sopar divendres?
—Will you be able to come to dinner on Friday?
—Sí, però vindré una mica tard.
—Yes, but I'll come a little late.
—No passa res. Et tindrem un plat a punt.
—No problem. We'll have a plate ready for you.
—Perfecte; jo duré les postres.
—Perfect; I'll bring dessert.
Regional and register notes
The future stems on this page belong to contemporary standard Catalan across regions. (regional: Valencian) the standard infinitive variants tindre and vindre make tindré and vindré look more transparent than they do beside Central Catalan tenir and venir. The resulting future forms are the same. (regional: Northern Catalan) the locally standard future of anar can be iré beside the widespread aniré; use aniré as the general teaching baseline. Differences in how often speakers choose a future rather than a present or periphrasis do not change these paradigms.
Common Mistakes
1. Copying a Spanish future stem.
❌ Demà teneré més temps.
Incorrect — Catalan tenir uses the future stem tindr-.
✅ Demà tindré més temps.
Tomorrow I'll have more time.
2. Treating fer as regular.
❌ Què feràs aquest cap de setmana?
Incorrect — the future stem of fer is far-.
✅ Què faràs aquest cap de setmana?
What will you do this weekend?
3. Keeping the unstressed vowel in saber.
❌ Ho saberem demà al matí.
Incorrect — saber uses the shortened stem sabr-.
✅ Ho sabrem demà al matí.
We'll know tomorrow morning.
4. Building existential haver-hi from the infinitive spelling.
❌ No hi haverà prou lloc per a tothom.
Incorrect — haver uses the future stem haur-.
✅ No hi haurà prou lloc per a tothom.
There won't be enough room for everyone.
5. Putting the future inside an unrealized time clause.
❌ Quan vindràs, t'ho diré.
Incorrect if it means ‘when you come’ — a future time clause takes the present subjunctive.
✅ Quan vinguis, t'ho diré.
When you come, I'll tell you.
Key Takeaways
- Irregular futures change the stem, never the endings.
- Memorize dir-, dur-, far-, haur-, podr-, sabr-, tindr-, vindr-, voldr-.
- Compounds usually inherit far-, tindr-, or vindr-: refaré, mantindré, intervindré.
- The same irregular stems form the conditional: faré/faria, podré/podria.
- Put weak pronouns before the future verb: t'ho diré.
Now practice Catalan
Reading grammar gets you part of the way. The exercises are where it sticks — free, no signup needed.
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.
- Uses of the FutureA2 — How Catalan uses the simple future for predictions, promises, plans, and formal instructions—and when the present is more natural.
- The Future PerfectB1 — How haurà plus a past participle marks completion before a future reference point and, informally, conjecture about a completed event.
- Forming the ConditionalA2 — How Catalan builds the simple conditional from the infinitive or future stem plus one shared set of endings.
- Common Present-Stem IrregularitiesA2 — Recognize the recurring stem patterns behind high-frequency irregular present-tense verbs such as poder, voler, dir, veure, and tenir.
- Present of TenirA1 — Conjugate present-tense tenir and use it naturally for possession, age, sensations, obligations, and common everyday expressions.