Present tense = future tense?
I've noticed lately that in Spanish the present tense is a future tense as well. Here are a few examples:
El próximo fin de semana, mi mejor amigo viene/vendrá a visitarme por un mes.
Te escribo/escribiré la semana próxima otra vez.
I hear the present tense used like this all the time in regular conversation as well, and I'm beginning to think the present tense can always be used in place of the future. Is this true?
10 Answers
I've noticed lately that in Spanish the present tense is a future tense as well.
Present tense is used for future events much more often than the future tense proper.
I hear the present tense used like this all the time in regular conversation as well, and I'm beginning to think the present tense can always be used in place of the future. Is this true?
It doesn't matter whether it is formal, written or colloquial Spanish. Almost all tenses in Spanish can be used to talk about the past, the present and the future... under the right circumstances.
Present tense is used for things that are seen as obvious and perfectly controllable, regardless of when they happen. "Mañana me caso" is seen nearly as a fact (at least, a future one), so it is a perfect sentence in Spanish.
Future tense is used to make suppositions about how things will turn out to be, generally about the present and the future, because you don't make suppositions about things that are complete. Thus, "Mañana me casaré" is not seen as a fact, but as something that hopefully will turn out to be true if your expectations are right. You better use the present tense with your bride.
If you think this is weird, notice that the English future tense shares some features. If someone asks where is your brother and you say "Estará en el bar", you are not talking about the future, but guessing where he is as we speak. In English it is possible (although not nearly as common as in Spanish) to say "He'll be in the bar" to make an assumption about a present situation.
The sooner you stop seen Spanish tenses as being exclusively time-oriented, the sooner you'll master them.
:I guess that's related to my question. Can the present tense always represent the future tenses?
Are you, perhaps, looking for an excuse/justification for not learning the future tense in Spanish? I would be inclined to say that you can often use the present but not always. In any event, you need to be able to recognize the future when you see/hear it because it is, indeed, used.
I guess that's related to my question. Can the present tense always represent the future tenses?
No. If you present the future as certain as "The sun raises from the East... tomorrow", you use present; if you are making suppositions about it, you use the future ("El sol saldrá por el este mañana" will give you the "Captain Obvious" medal of honour to the best guess of the year, if you say such a thing). Both can be used to talk about potential futures (you cannot really tell what the future is like), but your cognitive perception of it can be expressed through these and other tenses. So the answer is no, you can't simply randomly replace one tense for another and expect everything to be ok, because the choice of tense will determine how natives will read your intentions. You cannot just talk like a terminator -you have to decide what do you want to say and how.
Now observe this conversation:
- ¿Qué planes tienes para mañana?
- Iba al cine, ¿por qué?
The future plans are being expressed... in imperfect! Why? Because this time is not seen as a certainty nor a supposition, but as a mental image that you have about the future. If you replace the tense with present or future, the destination remains the cinema, but the way people will interpret your attitudes and feelings will be completely different.
If you want to talk like a native, you are going to have to think like one, instead of finding easy replacement schemes to avoid using tenses. Each one has a function, which may or may not be readily translatable into English, but they compensate for other missing expressive tools that other languages have, so they are essential for proper communication within our system.
Present is more often used for future than future tense, which as Q pointed out, often used for conditional / suppositional / theory, example "será mujer". He could be a woman.
It is said by some that English has no future tense because we use the Modal "will".
In fact it has 8 ways of expressing the future - including some present tenses.
A) I will leave. (prediction) unless the "will is emphasised
B) I will have left. (prediction)
C) I will be leaving. (prediction)
D) I will have been leaving. (prediction)
E) I leave tomorrow. (fact)
F) I am going to leave tomorrow. (a plan)
G) I am leaving soon. (a personal arrangement)
H) I shall leave. (more like a promise to leave)
I think that the present tense is used more often for English future tense than is the Spanish future tense. Note that the periphrasis voy+a+verb infinitive uses the present tense to state a future action.
The Spanish future tense is often used for speculation or probabilty (like with if clauses and the indicative mood).
The future tense of Spanish also has two other common uses:
The "suppositional future" and the Emphatic command (see article)
It sounds like Spanish is shedding its future tenses much as English has! Notice, that the only way to express future action in English is using an auxiliary verb/phrase such as "will" or "going to".
How about "My best friend is coming next week?" 
Sorry (I'm not 100% sure), but I believe using the future tense is less concrete/definitive than the present tense. (indicative)
Also note that in subjunctive, for example, the future form is rarely used. The present takes over the cases where a long time ago you would use the future.
Mi mejor amigo viene la semana que viene / la próxima semana. Or you could say: Mi mejor amigo va a venir la semana que viene / la próxima semana.
