Future of Probability

Level 4

The future can make a guess about the present: Serán as tres (It must be about three o’clock), Estará na casa (She is probably at home).

How It Works

Typical uses

  • Time and age: Serán as tres. Terá uns trinta anos.
  • Where someone is or what they are doing: Estará no traballo. Estarás canso despois da viaxe.
  • Wondering aloud: Quen será a estas horas? Que quererá agora?
  • Rough amounts: Haberá unhas cen persoas.

Agreement with the hour

Ser agrees with the time, just as in telling the time: Será a unha but Serán as tres.

Other ways to guess

  • deber de + infinitive: Debe de estar na casa (see deber)
  • haber de + infinitive: Ha de estar na casa (see haber de)
  • An adverb: seguramente, quizais, or se cadra: Se cadra está na casa

Guessing about something already done

Standard Galician has no compound future like Spanish habrá llegado. To guess about something that has already happened, use the conditional (Chegaría onte) or an adverb with the preterite (Seguramente chegou onte).

A related use of the same future grants a point before a contrast: Será moi listo, pero non estuda (see the concessive future).

Examples (6)

  1. Que hora é? Non sei, serán as tres.

    What time is it? I don’t know, it must be about three.

    Serán refers to now; it is a guess, not a prediction.

  2. Marta non responde. Estará na ducha.

    Marta isn’t answering. She is probably in the shower.

  3. Quen será a estas horas?

    Who can that be at this hour?

    In a question, the future expresses wondering.

  4. O novo profesor terá uns trinta anos.

    The new teacher must be about thirty.

  5. Haberá unhas cen persoas na praza.

    There must be about a hundred people in the square.

    Haberá is the future of impersonal haber, so it stays singular.

  6. Estarás canso despois de tantas horas de viaxe.

    You must be tired after so many hours of travel.

Common Mistakes

  • Not making ser agree with the hour.

    Será as tres.
    Serán as tres.

    As tres is plural, so the verb is plural: serán. Only a unha takes será.

  • Using the future to guess about the past.

    Onte á noite estará na casa.
    Onte á noite estaría na casa.

    The future guesses about the present. For a guess about the past, use the conditional.

How It Connects

Tap a pattern to see what it builds on and what it leads to.

Future of ProbabilityLevel 4

Learn This First

Ordinary future forms can express a present-time guess.