How to Talk About the Future in German

Morgen wird Max eine Reise machen. Er wird in den Zoo gehen, weil er die Tiere sehen will. Um 9 Uhr fährt er mit dem Bus los. Im Zoo wird er eine große Tüte Popcorn kaufen. Max wird seine Freundin Anna treffen und sie werden zusammen die Löwen sehen. Danach machen sie ein Foto mit den Elefanten. Später essen sie Eis im Café. Um 15 Uhr fährt Max wieder nach Hause. Am Abend erzählt er seinen Eltern von den Tieren. Am Wochenende wird er noch einmal in den Zoo gehen.

If you want to learn how to talk about the future in German using the techniques I just used in this short story, this is the lesson for you. Today you will learn how to imply the future tense without changing anything you already know about the German language as well as how to explicitly use the future tense with the help of the verb “werden”. Jetzt legen wir los.

Implied Future Tense with Time

"Jetzt legen wir los." is actually our first example of how all of this works. Both in English and in German we can use the present tense to talk about the future. We don’t need to come up with any new phrasing or anything. Just add a time expression to your sentence that implies something that has not yet happened. For example:

Morgen fahren wir nach Chicago. -
Tomorrow we are driving to Chicago.

This sentence takes place tomorrow, which is the only indication in either language that it is about the future. You can clearly see this, if you remove this one word.

Wir fahren nach Chicago. -
We are driving to Chicago.

So the first, easiest and most common way to talk about the future in German is to add a time expression that tells the listener that the action is not happening then, but later. Here are a few more examples just to make sure you get the idea.

Mein Bruder kommt im März zu Besuch. -
My brother is coming to visit in March.

Im Sommer schwimmen wir oft. -
In the summer, we often swim.

Am Donnerstag esse ich in einem neuen Restaurant. -
On Thursday I am eating at a new restaurant.

Er spielt um zwei Fußball. -
He is playing soccer at two.

Since this version of the future is so easy, I’m not going to put too much time in this lesson to discuss it.

If you want to learn more about the word order rules for where to put the time element within a sentence, click here.

If you want to learn how to express time in a bunch of different ways in German, click here. 

The True German Future Tense with "werden"

The verb “werden” is used in much the same way that “will” is in English. You use it in addition to another verb within the sentence and that other verb is used in the infinitive form. The infinitive form is the form of the verb that you find in the dictionary before you make any changes to it. Usually this means it ends with -en.

Ich werde diesen ganzen Kuchen essen. -
I will eat this entire cake.

Unlike in English where the two verbs are next to each other, “will eat”, in German the infinitive verb goes to the end of the sentence, while “werden” stays in the same place the conjugated verb always goes. In statements this is almost always position 2, meaning the second item in the sentence, not necessarily the second word in the sentence. In questions, the conjugated verb is first, unless there is a question word, which obviously goes first.

Wir werden einer Wohlfahrtsgesellschaft zehntausend Dollar spenden. -
We will donate ten thousand dollars to a charity.

Was werdet ihr in zehn Jahren machen? -
What will you do in ten years?

Meine Kinder werden wahrscheinlich Jobs haben. -
My children will probably have jobs.

You’ll notice that I cleverly avoided using the du and er, sie, es forms of “werden” in my examples so far. That is because “werden” is irregular and requires some weirdness. Instead of “du werdest” we say “du wirst” and instead of “er, sie, es werdet” we say “er, sie, es wird”. For example:

Wirst du mit mir zu Abend essen? -
Will you eat dinner with me?

Wird der Arzt wissen, was mit ihm los ist? -
Will the doctor know what is wrong with him?

Conjugation of "werden"

This brings our full conjugation of “werden” to:

Reading Comprehension Practice with the German Future Tense

Nächste Woche wird Tim eine Party für seinen Geburtstag planen. Am Dienstag kauft er die Einladungen, und er wird sie noch am selben Tag an seine Freunde schicken. Am Freitag backt er einen Kuchen. Am Samstag um 16 Uhr kommen seine Freunde zu ihm. Sie werden Fußball im Garten spielen und Kuchen essen. Tim wird sehr glücklich sein, weil alle seine Freunde da sind. Um 18 Uhr machen sie eine Pause, und Tim wird seine Geschenke auspacken. Später am Abend tanzen alle zu lauter Musik. Um Mitternacht werden sie müde sein und nach Hause gehen. Nächstes Jahr wird Tim wieder eine große Party haben.

The verb "werden" is very closely related to the modal verbs in German. Learn how to use German modal verbs in the present tense here.

Click here to learn how to use the modal verbs in the past tenses.