Day 16 of 90
Talking about tomorrow
Spanish has a real future tense and you do not need it yet. Three words give you the whole of tomorrow, and native speakers use them far more than the tense you will study later.
The pattern
A form of ir, then a, then any infinitive.
The a is not optional and it does not translate. voy comer is wrong in the way I going eat is wrong in English. The only thing that changes across the whole pattern is the form of ir, and you learned those five forms already, so the future costs you nothing new.
Saying when
The time words that pair with it.
Spanish rarely marks the future twice. Once mañana is in the sentence, the plain present is often enough: mañana trabajo, tomorrow I work. English does the same thing, and it means you frequently do not need the going to pattern at all once a time word is present.
Making a plan with someone
The exchange that arranges a Saturday.
a plus el becomes al and de plus el becomes del, and both are compulsory rather than casual contractions. voy a el cine is not something anyone says or writes. These are the only two contractions in Spanish, which makes them easy to remember and conspicuous when they are missing.
vamos a comer is both we are going to eat and let us eat, and Spanish does not distinguish them. If you want to be unmistakably making a suggestion, the tone of voice does it, and ¿vamos? on its own is shall we go. This overlap is why vamos a ver, we shall see, works as the same shrug it is in English.
Carry these forward
Four lines from today that later days assume you know.
Check yourself
Eight questions. Finishing them marks the day done.
Question 1 of 8
Type I am going to eat.
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