Future (Futur I)

The future (Futur I): The future tense (das Futur I) is how German says «will / going to». Unlike English (and unlike Spanish), German does not add a future ending to the verb. Instead it uses the helper verb werden (will / shall) plus the infinitive: «Ich werde morgen kommen» (I will come tomorrow). You use it for predictions («Morgen wird es regnen») and to stress an intention («Ich werde mehr Sport treiben»). The single most important thing to learn: werden goes in second position and the infinitive jumps to the very end of the clause.

das Futur I

the future tense («werden + infinitive»)

werden

the helper (auxiliary) verb that builds the future — it is conjugated for the person

der Infinitiv

the infinitive — the whole, unchanged verb (kommen, gehen, machen); it goes to the END of the clause

die Satzklammer

the «sentence bracket»: werden in position 2 and the infinitive at the end frame the rest of the sentence

die Vorhersage

a prediction — saying what will happen

der Zeitausdruck

a time expression (morgen, nächstes Jahr) — German often uses it WITH the present tense for the future

When you reach for it: If the prompt mentions «morgen», «nächstes Jahr», «in Zukunft», «eines Tages» — or asks you to make plans or predictions — it's the future. In speaking and writing, «Was wirst du nach der Schule machen?» is the natural way to ask about plans. (German also very often uses the present tense + a time word for the future — see §3.)

Conjugate «werden», leave the verb as an infinitive: To form Futur I, you only ever conjugate werden; the main verb stays as a plain infinitive and moves to the end. Learn the six forms of werden below — note that du wirst and er/sie/es wird are slightly irregular. Then it's always the same recipe: subject + werden (position 2) + … + Infinitiv (end).

The sentence bracket (Satzklammer): werden and the infinitive form a frame around the sentence: werden sits in position 2, and the infinitive is pushed to the very end. Everything else (time, place, object) goes in between. So it's «Ich werde [morgen mit meinen Freunden] spielen» — never «Ich werde spielen morgen».

Three everyday jobs — and a big shortcut: Futur I does a few jobs. Here are the two you meet most in the exam, plus a third (probability), each with a German example. The crucial point for German: for plans that are already decided, German speakers usually just use the present tense + a time word, NOT Futur I — see the shortcut at the end.

The shortcut: present tense + a time word: For near, decided plans German very often uses the present tense with a time expression instead of Futur I: «Morgen fahre ich nach Berlin.» (Tomorrow I'm going to Berlin) means the same as «Morgen werde ich nach Berlin fahren» — and it's what you'll hear most in everyday speech. Use werden when you want to stress an intention or a prediction; use the present + Zeitausdruck for ordinary planned events.

My plans, sentence by sentence: Here's a short paragraph about future plans, built one sentence at a time. Every sentence uses werden + Infinitiv — watch how werden stays in position 2 and the infinitive lands at the end of the clause. Read it once for meaning, then tap Übersetzung anzeigen for the English or 🔊 to hear it.

Steal this for your plans: Notice the pattern: a time marker («nächstes Jahr», «eines Tages») + werde/wirst/wird… + the infinitive at the end. Swap in your own plans and you have a ready-made answer for «Was wirst du in der Zukunft machen?» The one thing to police: the infinitive must be the last word of the clause.

The slips to watch for: Two mistakes account for most lost marks in Futur I: leaving the infinitive in the middle instead of at the end (the «verb-final» rule), and wrong agreement on werden (writing «meine Freunde wird» instead of «werden»). Compare the right version with the typical mistake and the fix becomes obvious.

Check the bracket and the agreement: Before you move on, ask two things: is the infinitive the LAST word of the clause (…sprechen, …feiern, …machen), and does werden agree with the subject (ich werde, du wirst, er wird, wir/sie werden)? Those two checks catch nearly every Futur-I slip.