Talking about the Future

Understanding how to discuss the future in Spanish is vital. Two main ways are: using ‘ir a’ followed by the infinitive, and using the future tense. An example of the first method is ‘Voy a estudiar’ (I am going to study). For the second method, you have: ‘Estudiaré’ (I will study).
‘Ir a’ is the more common way of talking about the future in spoken Spanish because it sounds more natural and informal. Remember the verb ‘ir’ needs to conjugate to match the person. For example, ‘Vas a venir a mi casa mañana?’ (Are you coming to my house tomorrow?)
The future tense conjugation is often used to express an action that will occur in the future, and it’s considered more formal than ‘ir a’. An example is: ‘Comeré pizza mañana’ (I will eat pizza tomorrow).
Each verb in Spanish has a different future tense conjugation. They can end as -é, -ás, -á, -emos, -éis, -án. But they’ll attach directly onto the infinitive, unlike in the present or preterite where you need to remove the -ar, -er, -ir endings first.
There’s a group of verbs in Spanish, known as irregular verbs, that don’t follow the usual future tense conjugation. A few examples are: ‘tener’ (to have) which becomes ‘tendré’ (I will have), ‘hacer’ (to do) which becomes ‘haré’ (I will do), and ‘ser’ (to be) which becomes ‘seré’ (I will be).
Using the future tense, you can also make educated guesses or assumptions about the present: ‘Estarán en casa’ (They will be at home), usually means ‘They are probably at home’.
Like in English, you can add a time expression to give more context. For instance, ‘mañana’ (tomorrow), ‘la próxima semana’ (next week), ‘el próximo año’ (next year), ‘en el futuro’ (in the future), and so on.
Helpful phrases commonly used when discussing the future include: ‘Pienso que…’ (I think that…), ‘Creo que…’ (I believe that…), and ‘Espero que…’ (I hope that…).
Practice makes perfect, make sure you spend enough time practicing and using these conjugations and structures, writing them in sentences and speaking them out loud.