This is what we do in English!

Alan K.C1Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor

This is what we do in English!

(Sorry, this is not really a question, but a hopefully helpful comment.)

Colloquially in English we often use the future tense to express present probabilities or predictions, just like the Spanish.  E.g. We could say "I'm not sure where John is, but he'll be practising his Spanish I should think."  Or "Do you think Fred has arrived home yet? Oh, he'll be relaxing with his feet up by now." 

Asked 6 years ago
GruffNative Spanish expert teacher in Kwiziq
Good point! We do use English future constructions in a very similar way (the "will" and "going to" forms). I'll chat with the team about the nuances here as I think in Spanish it's much more likely to be used than in English. Thanks for the input!
Alan K.C1Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor

Incidently, we also use the conditional to wonder about the past, as in Spanish.

"I wonder what Beethoven would think of punk rock? Oh, he'd be spinning in his grave I reckon!"

(The parallels are fascinating aren't they!) 

S. R.C1Kwiziq community member

I'm glad someone else had brought this up! I was thinking the same thing: at first, reading about this usage I was thinking "Oh no, yet another linguistic oddity that makes no sense," and then a minute later, I thought "Wait a minute, I know I've encountered this in English too!" I just never gave the construction that much thought. I don't personally use it in the American English I grew up speaking. But I've definitely heard things like "I wonder where on earth he'll be now."  Is this more common in British English perhaps, or is it an older feature that's often obsolescent...?

This is what we do in English!

(Sorry, this is not really a question, but a hopefully helpful comment.)

Colloquially in English we often use the future tense to express present probabilities or predictions, just like the Spanish.  E.g. We could say "I'm not sure where John is, but he'll be practising his Spanish I should think."  Or "Do you think Fred has arrived home yet? Oh, he'll be relaxing with his feet up by now." 

Sign in to submit your answer

Don't have an account yet? Join today

Ask a question

Find your Spanish level for FREE

Test your Spanish to the CEFR standard

Find your Spanish level
Thinking...