🇵🇹B1 Portuguese GrammarFuture Tense

Master the Portuguese future tense to express plans, predictions, and intentions. Learn the simple future (futuro simples), the informal ir + infinitive construction, and the future subjunctive for conditional and temporal clauses.

Practice: 5 questions

1Simple Future (Futuro Simples)

The simple future in Portuguese is formed by adding endings directly to the infinitive. This is unique among Romance languages - the infinitive itself becomes the stem. The endings are: -ei, -ás, -á, -emos, -ão. This tense is used for formal predictions, promises, and emphatic statements about the future.

Simple Future Conjugation

Person	falar (speak)	comer (eat)	partir (leave)
eu	falarei	comerei	partirei
tu	falarás	comerás	partirás
ele/ela/você	falará	comerá	partirá
nós	falaremos	comeremos	partiremos
eles/elas/vocês	falarão	comerão	partirão

Examples

Amanhã falarei com o meu chefe.

Tomorrow I will speak with my boss.

falarei = I will speak (formal)

Eles chegarão às oito horas.

They will arrive at eight o'clock.

chegarão = they will arrive

Nunca esquecerei este momento.

I will never forget this moment.

Emphatic promise with simple future

O tempo melhorará na próxima semana.

The weather will improve next week.

Prediction with simple future

2Informal Future (ir + Infinitive)

In everyday Brazilian and European Portuguese, the most common way to express future is ir (to go) + infinitive. This is similar to English "going to." It's used for plans, intentions, and near-future events. The verb ir is conjugated in the present tense, followed by the infinitive.

ir + Infinitive Construction

Person	ir (present)	Example with viajar
eu	vou	vou viajar
tu	vais	vais viajar
ele/ela/você	vai	vai viajar
nós	vamos	vamos viajar
eles/elas/vocês	vão	vão viajar

Examples

Vou estudar português esta noite.

I'm going to study Portuguese tonight.

vou + infinitive = most common informal future

Ela vai casar no próximo mês.

She's going to get married next month.

Near-future plan with ir + infinitive

Nós vamos jantar fora amanhã.

We're going to have dinner out tomorrow.

vamos = we're going (to)

O que vocês vão fazer no fim de semana?

What are you going to do on the weekend?

Question form with ir + infinitive

3Future Subjunctive

Portuguese has a unique future subjunctive used after quando (when), se (if), assim que (as soon as), and other temporal/conditional conjunctions. It's formed from the third person plural preterite minus -am: falaram → falar-. This tense doesn't exist in Spanish or other Romance languages.

Future Subjunctive Formation

Infinitive	3rd pl. preterite	Future subjunctive stem
falar	falaram	falar-
comer	comeram	comer-
partir	partiram	partir-
fazer	fizeram	fizer-
ter	tiveram	tiver-

Examples

Quando eu chegar, telefono-te.

When I arrive, I'll call you.

quando + future subjunctive (chegar)

Se tiveres tempo, podemos conversar.

If you have time, we can talk.

se + future subjunctive (tiveres)

Assim que ele souber, vai-nos dizer.

As soon as he finds out, he'll tell us.

assim que + future subjunctive (souber)

Farei o que for necessário.

I'll do whatever is necessary.

o que + future subjunctive (for)

4Irregular Futures and Usage

Three common verbs have irregular simple future stems: dizer → dir-, fazer → far-, trazer → trar-. The endings remain the same. In modern spoken Portuguese, the simple future often expresses probability or conjecture about the present: "Será que ele está em casa?" (I wonder if he's home).