In grammar, the future tense is a verb form that marks the event described by the verb as not having happened yet, but expected to happen in the future (in an absolute tense system), or to happen subsequent to some other event, whether that is past, present, or future (in a relative tense system).
Expressions of future tense
Languages can employ various strategies to convey future tense meaning. The concept of the future, necessarily uncertain and at varying distances ahead means that the speaker may express the future in terms of probability, intent The auxiliary+verb sequence can eventually become grammaticalized into a single word form, leading to reanalysis as a simple future tense. This is in fact the origin of the future tense in Western Romance languages like Italian (see below).
In some languages, there is no special morphological or syntactic indication of future tense, and future meaning is supplied by the context, for example by the use of temporal adverbs like "later", "next year", etc. Such adverbs (in particular words meaning "tomorrow" and "then") can also develop into grammaticalized future tense markers.
A given language can exhibit more than one strategy for expressing future tense. In addition, the verb forms used for the future tense can also be used to express other types of meaning. For example, the auxiliary werden "become" is used for both the future tense and the passive voice in German.
Germanic Languages
However, the languages of the Germanic family can also express the future by employing an auxiliary construction that combines certain present tense verbs with the simple infinitive (stem) of the verb which represents the true action of the sentence. These auxiliary forms vary between the languages.
Other, generally more informal, expressions of futurity use an auxiliary with the compound infinitive of the main verb.
The most common auxiliary verbs used to express futurity are:
shall (and its subjunctive should). This implies obligation or determined intent when used in the second person and its plural, and implies a simple future meaning in the first and third.
will (and its subjunctive form would). This implies wish or intent for the future, other than in the first and third person, in which it implies obligation or determined intent. Otherwise, it is used as the most neutral form and it is the most commonly used.
A dialectical form in Northern England is:
mun, derived from Old Norse, which implies obligation.
In all dialects of spoken English "shall" and "will" are commonly elided into 'll ("I'll go" could be either "I will go" or "I shall go") so that the differences between the two have been worn down.
English also uses can, may and must in a similar way.
"Should" (the subjunctive form of shall in this context) implies obligation or commitment to the action contemplated.
"Can" implies the ability to commit the action but does not presuppose obligation or firm commitment to the action.
"May" expresses the least sense of commitment and is the most permissive; it is also a verb used in the auxiliary construction that suggests conditionality.
"Must," by contrast, expresses the highest degree of obligation and commitment ("I must go") and is temporally nearest to present time in its expression of futurity ("I must go now.")
To wit:
I shall/will go
I should go
I can go
I may go
I must go
To express futurity in the negative, a negative adverb - such as "not" or "never" is inserted after the auxiliary verb, as in all other auxiliary constructions.
I shall/will not go
I should never go
I cannot go
I may never go
I must not go
In all of these, action within a future range of time is contemplated. However, in all cases, the sentences are actually voiced in the present tense, since there is no proper future tense in English. It is the implication of futurity that makes these present tense auxiliary constructions amount to a compound future quasi-tense.
An additional form of expressing the future is "I am going to...".
This reality, that expression of futurity in English is a function of the present tense, is born out by the ability to negate the implication of futurity without making any change to the auxiliary construction. When a verbal construction that suggests futurity (such as "I shall go") is subsequently followed by information that establishes a condition or presupposition, or the active verb stem itself contradicts a future indicative application of the construction, then any sense of future tense is negated - especially when the auxiliary will is used within its literal meaning, which is to voluntarily 'will' an action. For example:
Person A says: "You will go now. You will not stay."
Person B answers: "I shall go nowhere. I will stay."
The second 'will', in B's response, is not only expressing volition here but is being used in contradistinction to the usual first person 'shall' in order to achieve emphasis. Similarly, in the case of the second and third persons, 'will' operates with 'shall' in reverse.
For example:
A: Will he be at the café at six o'clock?
B: He will be there. [Normal affirmation]
HOWEVER, B: He shall be there. [Stresses that this is not the usual pattern that was previously established or to be expected (Last time he was late or did not show up)]
Additional auxiliary constructions used to express futurity are labelled as follows:
Future Continuous: Auxiliary + Verb Stem + Present Participle
I shall/will be going
You will be singing
He will be sleeping
We may be coming
They may be travelling
It will be snowing when Nancy arrives
It will not be raining when Josie leaves
Future Perfect: Auxiliary + Verb Stem + Past Participle
I shall/will be gone
You will have sung
He will have slept
We may have come ("We may be come" can still be used poetically, but it is obsolete in speech)
They may have travelled
It will have snowed
It will not have rained
Future Perfect Habitual (or Future Perfect Continuous): Auxiliary + Verb Stem + Past Participle + Present Participle
I shall/will have been going
You will have been singing
He will have been sleeping
We may have been coming
They may have been travelling
It will have been snowing
It will not have been raining
German
German uses only one auxiliary for the future:
werden (which on its own means "to become").
There is no compound infinitive in German so the main verb after werden is a simple infinitive. The infinitive main verb is placed at the end of the sentence, however long it may be.
Icelandic and Old Norse
Icelandic derives from Old Norse and indeed is scarcely changed from it in the written form. Icelandic uses the auxiliaries:
munu expressing a probable future
skulu (shall) implying obligation or determination.
It is believed that in Old Norse munu expressed the pure future, skulu expressed obligation or determination as it still does, and a third auxiliary, vilja ("will"), expressed will or intent.
A common auxiliary expression of the future, which takes the compound infinitive, is:
ætla expressing intention.
(So "Ég ætla að koma"; I will come)
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