Present Vs. Future tense for future
Which calls for more time to pass? What I mean by that is... I know I can express the "near future" with present indicative Por ejemplo "Esta noche voy al cine con mi amigo Ismael" ...and I can say with the future tense (for a much more distant event) something like "El año que viene iré a España" ....but how can I know which I should use... when the even isn't THAT far nor THAT close to happening ? Any pointers?
2 Answers
It all depends upon how far you view it, and based upon which one u choose the meaning may change subtly. Using "voy a" + verb and using the future tense depend upon your perspective.
Por ejemplo, puedo decir "voy a comer mañana," pero también puedo decir "comeré mañana."
Neither one makes much difference at all. The difference is "I'm going to eat tomorrow," and "I will eat tomorrow." In English, these are used interchangeably, even on a time span of several years: "it is going to happen in a few years."
hope this helped 
You may already know that the proper "future tense" isn't even used all that much these days in common spoken Spanish. Check out this link for a similar question and some great responses (Lazarus).
http://www.spanishdict.com/answers/188982/present-tense-future-tense
*I previously had a much longer response, but upon reading through the entire linked page I decided it wasn't even worth keeping in (and perhaps confusing things!), so I edited the post. Enjoy the link!
