Ir a + infinitive: the easiest way to talk about the future in Spanish

¡Hola aventurero!

What are you doing this weekend? 🤔

If you can answer that in English, you can answer it in Spanish. With one verb. Today I'll show you how ir a + infinitive works, and the little details that make it sound natural.

If you know voy, vas and va, you've already done the hardest part. En serio.

1Why "going to" works in both languages

Teacher bit 🤓 English and Spanish did the same thing with the verb "go". Both turned it into a way of talking about the future.

Think about it: when you say "I'm going to cook", you're not going anywhere. You're "moving towards" the action. Spanish uses ir in exactly the same way:

So it isn't a new idea at all. It's an English idea with Spanish words in it.

2The formula: three pieces

Every ir a sentence has the same three pieces:

The infinitive is the dictionary form of a verb, ending in -ar, -er or -ir. Here's ir with everyone, planning a birthday party 🎂

Vais is the one you'll hear in Spain when someone talks to a group of friends. Lots of courses skip it, so it's worth a second look.

3Where do pronouns go?

This is the bit most learners get stuck on. Words like me, te, lo and se can go in two places, and both are correct:

Pick whichever comes out first. People in Spain use both all the time.

Look at the last row. When you stick two pronouns on the end, decir becomes decírselo, with an accent. The word gets longer, so the accent is there to keep the stress where it was: de-CÍR-se-lo.

Verbs like ducharse are reflexive verbs. If those still confuse you, there's a whole post on Spanish reflexive verbs.

4Saying when

A plan needs a when. Here are some time words, from soonest to furthest away:

Two things to notice. Mañana por la mañana looks funny, but mañana means both "tomorrow" and "morning" 😄 And days of the week take el, not en: El lunes voy a empezar el gimnasio (On Monday I'm going to start the gym). Seguro que sí.

5For things that are about to happen

Ir a isn't only for plans. You also use it when you can see something coming, right now:

Notice the que in the first one. In Spain, people often put que after a warning or a request, a bit like "because". You'll hear it everywhere.

6Hear it in a conversation

Two friends talking about plans for a long weekend, el puente:

Spot the pronouns: me voy a quedar puts it before ir, and voy a llevarme puts it on the end ✨

7Common mistakes

8Practise it this week

1. 1

   Plan your weekend out loud

   Say three plans for this weekend, each with a different time word: El sábado por la mañana voy a ir al mercado. Por la tarde voy a ver una película. El domingo voy a descansar.

2. 2

   Say every pronoun sentence both ways

   Pick three sentences with a pronoun, like Te voy a llamar, and say each one both ways: Te voy a llamar and Voy a llamarte. Your mouth gets used to both.

3. 3

   Ask someone about their plans

   Next time you speak Spanish, ask ¿Qué vas a hacer este finde? and have your own answer ready too.

And after the weekend? You'll need the past to say how it went, so how to talk about your weekend in Spanish is the natural next step.

If you like grammar explained with colours and tables like this, my Visual Spanish Grammar Book does the same for the rest of Spanish grammar, with charts and real-life examples 📘

Now tell me 👀 What are you going to do this weekend? Answer in Spanish with ir a, and cuéntame in the comments!

Lucía · Linguist, translator, Spanish teacher and author of the Visual Spanish Grammar Book.
Come and learn Spanish with me and other aventureros like yourself at skool.com/learnspanish 🎉