The Catalan simple future presents a situation from a point before it happens: parlaré “I will speak,” vindran “they will come.” Its main job is prediction, but it also makes promises, states intentions, and gives instructions in formal writing. English will is a useful first translation, but it is not a reliable selection rule: Catalan often uses the present for a scheduled future and does not use anar a + infinitive as freely as English uses “be going to.”
A quick form reminder
The future is a finite indicative tense. For regular verbs, its endings attach to the infinitive: parlaré, perdràs, dormirà. Verbs in -re normally lose the final unstressed e: perdre → perdré. Several common verbs have a special stem, such as fer → far-, tenir → tindr- and venir → vindr-; the endings themselves remain regular. See Forming the Future and Irregular Future Stems for the full morphology.
Stress falls on the ending in every person: parlaré, parlaràs, parlarà, parlarem, parlareu, parlaran. The singular endings -é, -às, and -à require written accents, while the other endings follow the regular stress rules without one. Person and number are carried by the verb, so subject pronouns normally appear only for contrast.
Demà et trucaré quan surti de la feina.
I’ll call you tomorrow when I leave work.
Nosaltres en parlarem després de sopar.
We’ll talk about it after dinner.
Weak pronouns precede a finite future: et trucaré, en parlarem, no l’oblidaré. When a modal verb is followed by an infinitive, a pronoun belonging to that infinitive may either climb or attach to the infinitive: Ho podré fer and Podré fer-ho are both standard.
Predictions and expectations
The future’s most neutral use is to locate an event or state after the speech time. The speaker does not need to have a fixed plan; the form can simply present what they expect the later situation to be.
Aquesta nit baixaran molt les temperatures.
Temperatures will drop sharply tonight.
Quan arribis a la plaça, veuràs la farmàcia a mà dreta.
When you reach the square, you’ll see the pharmacy on the right.
Els resultats no estaran disponibles fins dilluns.
The results won’t be available until Monday.
The future clause is indicative because it is asserted as the speaker’s prediction. A subordinate clause may choose another mood even when it also refers to the future: quan arribis has present subjunctive because the arrival is a pending reference point. “Future time” and “future tense” are therefore not the same thing.
Promises, commitments, and intentions
In the first person, the future often commits the speaker to an action. Context tells you whether it is a promise, a decision, or a statement of intention.
T’ho tornaré demà, t’ho prometo.
I’ll give it back to you tomorrow, I promise.
Aquest cap de setmana descansarem i apagarem els mòbils.
This weekend we’ll rest and switch off our phones.
No us deixaré sols amb aquest problema.
I won’t leave you alone with this problem.
The future does not itself mean “promise”; the commitment comes from the speaker’s control over the action and from the conversational setting. With a third-person subject, the same morphology is more likely to be heard as prediction: La Júlia ho acabarà avui “Júlia will finish it today.”
The future versus the present
Catalan commonly uses the present indicative for arrangements, timetables, and events treated as settled. A future-time expression supplies the temporal reference.
Demà dino amb l’Anna.
I’m having lunch with Anna tomorrow.
El tren surt a les set i deu.
The train leaves at ten past seven.
The future adds prediction, distance, or a more explicit forward-looking stance:
Demà dinaré amb l’Anna i li explicaré què ha passat.
Tomorrow I’ll have lunch with Anna and tell her what happened.
Neither tense is automatically “more future.” Demà dino amb l’Anna treats lunch as an entry already fixed in the schedule; demà dinaré amb l’Anna reports or commits to what the speaker will do. English speakers often copy an English progressive—“I’m meeting,” “I’ll be working”—where a simple Catalan present or future is more idiomatic.
Why anar a + infinitive is not an all-purpose future
Standard Catalan does have anar a + infinitive, especially for an action that was on the point of happening in the past: El gerro anava a caure “The vase was about to fall.” In the present it occurs in limited contexts where an agent announces what they are about to say, as in Doncs ara us vaig a dir què ha passat “Well, now I’m going to tell you what happened,” and literal movement remains possible: Vaig a comprar pa “I’m going to buy bread.”
It is not the general future marker that Spanish ir a or English “be going to” can be. For an imminent event, use the present, the future, or estar a punt de according to meaning.
El concert està a punt de començar; afanya’t.
The concert is about to start; hurry up.
D’aquí a cinc minuts començarà la reunió.
The meeting will start in five minutes.
This distinction also prevents confusion with the periphrastic past. Vaig comprar el pa means “I bought the bread”; there is no a. Vaig a comprar pa contains the preposition a and either denotes movement or, in a restricted context, an announced next action.
Formal instructions and requirements
In regulations, contracts, recipes, and technical directions, the future can prescribe what a participant will do. This is (formal) and often sounds impersonal or authoritative.
La persona sol·licitant presentarà la documentació abans del 30 de juny.
The applicant shall submit the documents before June 30. (formal)
A continuació, afegireu l’oli a poc a poc i ho remenareu bé.
Next, you will add the oil little by little and stir it well. (formal instructional style)
In plain modern instructions, the present, imperative, or haver de is often more direct: Presenteu la documentació or Heu de presentar la documentació. English legal shall should therefore not be translated mechanically with a future in every sentence.
Mini-dialogue
—Vindràs al sopar de dissabte? —Sí, però arribaré tard: treballo fins a les nou.
—Will you come to Saturday’s dinner? —Yes, but I’ll arrive late: I work until nine.
—I la Marta? —No ho sé; potser ens ho confirmarà demà.
—And Marta? —I don’t know; maybe she’ll confirm it to us tomorrow.
The question asks about a future decision, while treballo presents a fixed work schedule. The forms coexist because the speaker adopts a different viewpoint on each event.
Regional and register notes
The standard future paradigm and the uses described here are shared across Central Catalan, Valencian, Balearic, Northwestern, Northern, and Alguerese standards. Frequency varies in speech: as in many languages, everyday conversation often favors the present when the context already makes future time clear. This is a preference, not a different grammatical system. Forms and vocabulary around the tense may vary—Valencian commonly has hui where Central Catalan has avui—but the future contrast remains.
Common Mistakes
1. Copying the English progressive for a neutral future plan. Catalan can form a future progressive, but it presents an action specifically as ongoing; it is not the default equivalent of English “will be working.”
❌ Demà estaré trobant la Laia a les deu.
Unnatural for one scheduled meeting—an English progressive has been copied onto a punctual event.
✅ Demà em trobaré amb la Laia a les deu.
I’ll meet Laia tomorrow at ten.
2. Using the periphrastic past as though it were a future.
❌ La setmana que ve vaig presentar la proposta.
Incorrect for a future meaning—vaig presentar is the periphrastic past, ‘I presented.’
✅ La setmana que ve presentaré la proposta.
I’ll present the proposal next week.
3. Copying Spanish ir a + infinitive for ordinary imminence.
❌ El partit va a començar.
Not appropriate as an ordinary future prediction in standard Catalan.
✅ El partit està a punt de començar.
The match is about to start.
4. Putting a weak pronoun after the finite future.
❌ Diré-t’ho demà.
Incorrect in contemporary standard Catalan—the clitic cannot attach after a finite future form.
✅ T’ho diré demà.
I’ll tell you tomorrow.
5. Selecting the future merely because the subordinate action is later.
❌ Quan arribaràs a casa, truca’m.
Incorrect in this pending temporal clause—the future time does not automatically require future indicative.
✅ Quan arribis a casa, truca’m.
Call me when you get home.
Key Takeaways
The simple future is strongest as a prediction or explicit forward-looking commitment. Use the present naturally for fixed arrangements, reserve anar a + infinitive for its narrower Catalan values, place weak pronouns before the finite verb, and remember that a future situation may appear in another tense or mood when its clause is not asserted in the same way.
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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.
- Irregular Future StemsA2 — Master the high-frequency future bases far-, haur-, podr-, sabr-, tindr-, vindr-, voldr-, and their related families.
- The Conjectural FutureB1 — How the future can express a present-time guess in informal Catalan, and why deure plus infinitive is the safer standard choice.
- The Future PerfectB1 — How haurà plus a past participle marks completion before a future reference point and, informally, conjecture about a completed event.
- Anar a plus InfinitiveA2 — Use anar a plus infinitive for narrowly defined imminence and announcements without copying the all-purpose English or Spanish near future.
- Present Forms with Future MeaningA2 — Use the Catalan present for scheduled events, settled plans, and imminent actions whose future time is clear from context.