Lesson 20: Using the present tense to describe future events
We've already covered some of this in an earlier lesson but we're going to expand it now that we know new verb forms and words.
In a previous lesson we looked at how we say "I'm going to" (which is present tense) as a way to describe things in the future simply by ading some future context like "tomorrow", "later", etc..
So here are a few future contexts to recap
 Spanish |  English |
|---|---|
| Mañana | tomorrow |
| Más tarde | later |
| Esta noche | tonight |
| Pronto | soon |
Let's start putting together verb forms (I, you ,we ,etc.), subjects (them, him, you) and throwing them into the future!
So let's recap 'Ver' ("to see") with a quick reminder of how we get the various forms:
- Take off the 'er' and add 'e' to get he/she/it/you (formal)
- Take off the 'er' and add 'en' to get they
- Take off the 'er' and add 'es' to get you (informal)
- Take off the 'er' and add 'emos' to get we
| Spanish | English |
|---|---|
| Ve | He sees |
| Ven | They see |
| Ves | You (informal) see |
| Vemos | We see |
As is sometimes the case the 'I' form is a bit irregular:
| Spanish | English |
|---|---|
| Veo | I see |
Going into the future using future context
So we can use this verb as a way to demonstrate talking about the future.
| Spanish | English |
|---|---|
| La veo más tarde | I'm seeing her later |
| La veo esta noche | I'm seeing her tonight |
| La vemos pronto | We're seeing her soon |
| Las vemos pronto | We're seeing them (females) soon |
| Las ve pronto | He is seeing them (females) soon |
| ¿Las ves pronto? | Are you seeing them (females) soon? |
| ¿No las ves pronto? | Aren't you seeing them (females) soon? |
| ¿Por qué no las ves pronto? | Why aren't you seeing them (females) soon? |
Going into the future with "to go"
So we can use future context to talk about the future or, as we covered in an earlier lesson, we can use "to go".
| Spanish | English |
|---|---|
| Vamos a verla | We are going to see her |
| ¿Vas a verlo pronto? | Are you going to see him soon? |
| ¿Vas a vernos pronto? | Are you going to see us soon? |
| ¿Nos vas a ver pronto? | Are you going to see us soon? |
... and just as a reminder that 'nos can go before the changed verb ('vas') or after the unchanged verb - a verb still in its too form - 'ver'. while when we use future context we only have a changed verb so lo/la/los/las/nos must go before the changed verb.
And also the second reminder that questions are just statements pronounced as questions. So said as a statement 'Nos vas a ver pronto' means "You are going to see us soon".
More future contexts
Any word that refers to the future ('más tarde, 'mañana', etc.) is a future context. Another one of these is "next week" but it is said in Spanish as "the week that comes". We do sometimes use a similar form in English when we say "the coming week".
| Spanish | English |
|---|---|
| La semana que viene | Next week |
| Hablamos la semana que viene | Let's speak next week |
Nos vemos - seeing ourselves!
| Spanish | English |
|---|---|
| Nos vemos la semana que viene | Let's meet next week |
In Spanish 'nos vemos' literally means we see ourselves but it is used to say "we see each other" or "we'll see each other". As such its often used as a way of saying "Goodbye" but with the clear reference to the idea that this is only a temporary state and we will meet again soon.
Theoretically we should have some future tense here like 'nos vemos mañana' - "we'll see each other tomorrow" - and you could do this if, for example, you are at work and you know you will see your colleague tomorrow. However if you don't know the time you will be meeting again it is just dropped and we get 'nos vemos' but when we are parting company with someone it is understood as future context.
Lesson 21: Using the present tense to describe past events