One basic part of conversations with friends, family, classmates, or colleagues, includes discussing your immediate plans for the future—telling people what you are going to do after class, on the weekend, on Spring Break, or during summer vacation. In Spanish, one way to do this involves the verb ir, which as you already know, means “to go,” and an infinitive. Literally, you are saying “I am going to ….” When you use this structure, you are indicating that at some time in the future, be it later that same day or in a few months, you will do a certain activity. Let’s quickly review the conjugation of the verb ir, and then look at some examples of how to express future plans in Spanish.
| ir – to go (tiempo presente) | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
| ir + | a + | infinitivo |
|---|---|---|
 Mañana, yo voy |
a | ir a la playa.  |
| ¿Tú vas |
a | estudiar mucho para el examen de español? |
| ¿Qué va |
a | hacer usted durante el verano? |
| Ellos van |
a | viajar a Madrid la semana que viene. |
| Marisol va |
a | hacer ejercicio después de la clase de matemáticas.  |
| Nosotros vamos |
a | jugar al tenis, descansar, y leer este fin de semana. |
| Pasado mañana, Miguel y Fiorela van |
a | salir a una discoteca. |
There are a couple of important things we should point out from the above examples. First of all, remember that you must include the a between the conjugated form of ir and the infinitive. Without the a, your sentence is not correct. Often, there will be an expression of a time that indicates that the action to which you are referring will take place in the future, such as mañana, más tarde, and después de….
When you use this construction, you are conveying your plans for some future moment, whether it is the immediate future, an hour later, a little further down the road, or several months from the moment you are speaking in. Through the use of this expression of the future, you are also indicating that you really have the intention of carrying out these plans, and that the likelihood that you will is pretty high, even if you are talking about something planned for the distant future.
Practice the vocabulary from this module using the Quizlet flashcards below.
