Futur 1 – Future Tense German

On this page, I explain how to form the future tense (Future I) in German and when to use it.

You’ll always need the auxiliary verb “werden” for this tense.

Before diving in, why not take a quiz to see how much you already know about the future tense?

🎓 Future 1 Quiz – Click the start button

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Scroll up a little after pressing the start button to see the question.

How do you form the German future tense?

In order to form this tense we need the auxiliary verb: werden.

The auxiliary verb is conjugated as follows:

Singular

ich werde
du wirst
er, sie, es wird

Plural

wir werden
ihr werdet
sie, Sie werden

Here is an example sentence in the present tense and in the future tense.

Present tense:
Ich lese ein Buch.
(I read a book)

Future tense:
Ich werde ein Buch lesen.
(I will read a book)

Can you see what happened?

We’ll exchange the verb for the auxiliary verb.
The verb is now at the end in the infinitive (basic form of the verb)

Here is another example sentence.

Present tense:
Du trinkst Milch.
(You drink milk)

Future tense:
Du wirst Milch trinken.
(You will drink milk)

The verb trinken is now again at the end of the sentence in the infinitive. The auxiliary verb is conjugated and is now called: wirst, because we use the personal pronoun du (= you (informal)).

When do you use the future tense in German?

You can always use it when you want to say something about the future. However, in such cases we often simply use the present tense!

Example 1

Future tense:
Ich werde morgen in den Park gehen.
(I’ll go to the park tomorrow)

Present tense:
Ich gehe morgen in den Park.

Example 2

Future tense:
Wir werden nächste Woche verreisen.
(We will travel next week)

Present tense:
Wir verreisen nächste Woche.

We use the future tense frequently to express the following things:

• Forecasts
• Assumptions
• Hopes
• Intentions for the future
• Future plans
• Promises

Sample sentences:

Morgen wird es (vermutlich) regnen.
(Tomorrow it will (probably) rain)

In 50 Jahren werden Menschen auf dem Mond leben.
(In 50 years, people will be living on the moon)

Alles wird gut.
(Everything will be fine)

Morgen werde ich mein Zimmer sauber machen.
(Tomorrow I’ll clean my room)

Paul wird im Sommer nach Belgien fahren.
(Paul will be going to Belgium in the summer)

Ab Montag werde ich abnehmen.
(I will lose weight from Monday)

I hope you enjoyed this little glimpse of the future tense.

It will be worth it in the end!

I understand that learning a second or third language can be challenging at first, but don’t give up! Even if the journey seems long, it will definitely be worth it in the end.