Guessing what is happening now
In English, if you see someone doing something unusual from afar, you might ask, "What could he be doing?" or assume, "He must be pulling a rope." In Spanish, to guess or speculate about an ongoing action happening right now, you can use the future progressive.
To form this, conjugate the verb estar in the future tense and add the gerund of your main verb (the -ando or -iendo form).
| Subject | Future of estar | Gerund |
|---|---|---|
| yo | estaré | -ando / -iendo |
| tú | estarás | -ando / -iendo |
| él / ella / usted | estará | -ando / -iendo |
| nosotros / nosotras | estaremos | -ando / -iendo |
| ellos / ellas / ustedes | estarán | -ando / -iendo |
Let's put this into practice by watching a street mime and guessing what invisible objects he is interacting with. Notice how the Spanish future tense here translates to English phrases like "is probably doing," "must be doing," or "could be doing."
| What could the mime be looking for there? | ¿Qué estará buscando el mimo allí? |
| Now the mime is probably pulling a heavy rope. | Ahora el mimo estará jalando una soga pesada. |
| Could he be feeling an invisible glass? | ¿Estará palpando un cristal invisible? |
Speculating about others
This structure works for any subject. If we shift our attention to the passersby, we simply change estar to match who we are guessing about.
| That passerby is probably enjoying the pantomime for a little while. | Ese transeúnte estará disfrutando la mímica un ratito. |
| Some passersby are probably ignoring the pantomime. | Algunos transeúntes estarán ignorando la mímica. |