German Future Tense and How to use it

The German future tense is very similar to the future tense in English. To talk about something in the future, you can use the present tense as you can also do in English. For example:

Wir fliegen nächstes Jahr nach Frankreich – We’re flying to France next year

Ich spiele morgen Gittare – i’m playing the guitar tomorrow

However there is a dedicated German future tense used to talk about something that will happen in the future. Quite often it is used to emphasise something that will happen in the future.

Here are some examples of the German future tense:

Er wird nach Spanien fahren – he will drive to Spain

Du wirst morgen einkaufen gehen – you will go shopping tomorrow

How is the German Future Tense formed?

The German future tense is formed using the normal present tense form of the verb werden. When used on it’s own in a future tense sentence, it means to become, however in English we will often say will become/will get/will be instead.

For example:

Ich werde am Samstag 25 Jahre alt – I will be 25 on Saturday
Er wird bald ein Vater – He will soon be a father
Ihr werdet jeden Tag besser – you will get better every day

German Future Tense with additional Verb

When you want to talk about doing something in the future, you will need to construct the German future sentence in two parts. The first part is as above with the present tense form of the verb werden. The second verb which explains what you will be doing goes to the end of the sentence:

Sie werden ein Auto kaufen – You will buy a car
Du wirst morgen gewinnen – you will win tomorrow
Ich werde dich küssen – I will kiss you – note: with reflexive verbs, the reflexive pronoun (mich, dich, sich etc) comes straight after the present tense form of werden.

We hope this helps you learn how the German future tense is used. If you have any comments please feel free to leave them below.