Forget about Futuro Simple in Argentina

If you did your AR Spanish homework, you know that VOSEO and YEISMO are two key characteristics of the Spanish spoken in Argentina.

Now, there are two other grammar choices that have significant relevance to our way of speaking. One of them, the preference of Pretérito Indefinido over Pretérito Perfecto Compuesto, has already been covered HERE.

The other is the future tense.

The futuro simple tense, is used to express future actions or events that will occur some time in the future. It is formed by using the infinitive form of the verb and adding the appropriate ending, which varies depending on the subject of the sentence.

For example,

• “Viajaré” (I will travel),
• “Mañana lloverá” (Tomorrow it will rain),
• “Decidiremos el mes que viene” (We will decide next month).

The periphrastic future, on the other hand, is formed by using the correct form of the verb IR in the present tense, followed by the preposition “a”, plus the infinitive form of the main verb. And believe me, it’s almost all you’ll hear us using.

For example, instead of saying any of the three examples above, we would say

• “Voy a viajar” (I am going to travel),
• “Mañana va a llover” (It’s going to rain),
• “Vamos a decidir el mes que viene” (We are going to decide next month).

This simple adjustment will make your Spanish sound much more Argentinian. So, my advice is that you default to [IR] A + INFINITIVE or at least expect much more of it than simple future.

It’s as simple as that. And IR A + INF is arguably easier to incorporate than the future forms.

Good luck!

Happy Spanish learning,

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