Futuro Hipotético

María tendrá un novio

Sometimes verbs in Futuro Simple don’t express any actions in the future. Instead, they are referred to the present. They mean some probability, doubt or hypothesis.

This is the second use case of Futuro Simple, which is very common in the daily speech. It’s called Futuro Hipotético.

However, it’s not a new grammar tense. It’s just a function, which Futuro Simple has.

Será muy tarde – It must be very late

Su abuelo tendrá ochenta años – Her grandfather must be eighty years old

Habrá mucha gente en el parque – There must be many people at the concert

It’s very convenient to translate such sentences with the verb must. It doesn’t refer to any kind of obligation, but just a probability.

When you need to make an assumption, and you don’t feel sure enough about something, use Futuro Hipotético.

You are sure:

Son las siete – It’s seven o’clock

You are unsure:

Serán las siete – It must be seven o’clock

You are sure:

Hace frío – It’s cold

You are unsure:

Hará frío – It must be cold

You are sure:

Luisa está en el banco – Luisa is at the bank

You are unsure:

Luisa estará en el banco

The same applies to questions.

¿Qué hora es? – ¿Qué hora será?

¿Dónde está Luisa? – ¿Dónde estará Luisa?

Try it yourself:

You must have much money

He is so strong. He must do many physical exercises

Who can it be at this time?

Where might be this hotel?

How much might these cloths cost?

Quite often Futuro Hipotético is applied to the continuous actions with the estar + gerundio construction.

Los niños estarán jugando en el jardín – The children must be playing in the garden

Daniel estará escuchando música – Daniel must be listening to music

Try it yourself:

My wife must be talking to the neighbour

My parents must be working now

What might Claudia be doing at this moment?