Future/conditional endings on the infinitive
Unlike the present/preterite/imperfect, the future and conditional keep the whole infinitive — the endings attach to it, and one set works for -ar/-er/-ir alike. Future: -é, -ás, -á, -emos, -éis, -án (hablar→hablaré...). Conditional: -ía, -ías, -ía, -íamos, -íais, -ían (vivir→viviría...). Every future form except nosotros carries a written accent; every conditional form carries one.
One irregular stem serves both tenses
A few common verbs replace the infinitive with a shortened stem, then take the regular endings — the stem serves both tenses: tener→tendr- (tendré, tendría); hacer→har- (haré, haría); poder→podr-; querer→querr- (double r); decir→dir- (loses two syllables); haber→habr-. Learn the stem once and add the standard future or conditional ending.
Drawn from real examiner reports.
Present instead of a future/conditional
When a task signals a future plan (¿Qué vas a hacer...?, En el futuro...) or a hypothetical (¿Qué preferirías?), the safe present default costs the Task/Accuracy mark. Weak: Trabajo en una oficina (present); strong: Trabajaré (future) or Me gustaría trabajar (conditional). Copying the rubric verb unchanged is also penalised.
Writing: answering in the present when a past/future was required — Q2 Task 5 conditional (s23 41); Task 5 future (w23 41).
Conditional is a named Speaking weakness
Examiner reports name the conditional as a recurring Speaking weakness. Trigger verbs like preferirías (would you prefer) or cambiarías (would you change) draw a present answer (prefiero, cambio) instead of the conditional. Drill it on frequent verbs: preferir→preferiría, gustar→gustaría, poder→podría. Every conditional form carries an accent on -ía.
Conditional a specific Speaking weakness — preferirías (s23 topic 5); cambiarías (s22 topic 2).
Accent: estudiará vs estudiara
Every future form except nosotros carries a written accent, and dropping it can change the verb. The digest names this pair: estudiará (he/she WILL study — future) vs estudiara (imperfect subjunctive, a different mood). Even where no second word results, examiners penalise it: yo -é, tú -ás, él -á, nosotros -emos (none), vosotros -éis, ellos -án.
estudiará / estudiara (future indicative vs imperfect subjunctive) — s23 P22 Key Messages.
Copying the tú-rubric verb unchanged
A rubric prompt in tú form must be transformed into a first-person answer, not echoed back. Asked ¿Qué preferirías? the answer is Preferiría... (yo), not preferirías; asked ¿Qué harás? answer Haré.... Leaving the second-person form copied from the question fails Task Completion for that bullet.
Q3 Task completion: copying the 2nd-person rubric verb unchanged fails (s23, w23 Paper 41).
Do not shorten a regular infinitive
The future/conditional endings attach to the whole infinitive of a regular verb — never a shortened stem. ✗ hablré, ✗ vivré, ✗ comré → hablaré, viviré, comeré. Only the fixed irregular set (tener, hacer, poder, querer, decir, haber) drops part of the infinitive; every other verb keeps it in full.
(general FL trap)
Mis-forming the irregular stems
The irregular stems are fixed and easy to mangle: querer doubles the r → querr- (querría, not "quereía"); decir loses two syllables → dir- (diré, not "deciré"); tener/poder insert d → tendr-, podr- (tendré, not "teneré"). Learn each stem exactly, then add the regular ending.
(general FL trap)
Near and simple future never blend
Some think a bare infinitive carries future meaning (mañana estudiar), or that ir a + infinitive and the simple-future ending can merge (✗ voy a estudiaré). They are separate: near future = ir a + infinitive (voy a estudiar); simple future = infinitive + ending (estudiaré). Both valid, but a sentence needs one structure, not a blend.
Infinitives instead of finite verbs listed among Q2 task-completion failures (s23, w23 Paper 41).
Use ir a + infinitive for near plans
For an immediate or already-planned action, the near future (ir a + infinitive) is simpler to form under pressure and equally valid: voy a estudiar esta noche. Use it alongside the simple future, but never blend the two into one verb (✗ voy a estudiaré).
Trigger, then stem, ending, accent
For a future/conditional task: spot the trigger (future el año que viene, hypothetical ¿preferirías?); if the verb is tener/hacer/poder/querer/decir/haber use its irregular stem, else keep the infinitive; add the ending; then accent-audit every form but nosotros future.
Show one future AND one conditional
Deliberately include one genuine future and one genuine conditional — not present-tense workarounds — in a future-themed answer: it directly lifts the Range mark. Pair a plan (estudiaré medicina) with a hypothetical (me gustaría viajar).
Spanish has three ways to talk about the future, plus one hypothetical tense:
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