German · B1 · Family moment
Promises For Tomorrow in German
Use Futur I to make reassuring promises and gentle predictions about family life. Build it with a present-tense form of werden and an infinitive at the end of the clause.
What you'll learn
- Make clear promises about what you will do for your child.
- Make encouraging predictions about new experiences.
- Choose the correct form of werden and place the main verb at the end.
- Use time expressions such as morgen, heute Abend and am Samstag.
German phrases for promises for tomorrow
Ich werde dich morgen am Schultor abholen.
I will pick you up at the school gate tomorrow.
Use dich when speaking directly to one child. The separable verb abholen stays together as the final infinitive.
Wir werden nach dem Abendessen zusammen das Lesen üben.
We will practise reading together after dinner.
Das Lesen means reading as an activity, so Lesen is capitalized. Üben is the final infinitive.
Du wirst bald die Regeln in deinem neuen Sportverein lernen.
You will soon learn the rules at your new sports club.
Du takes wirst. Bald means soon and makes this an encouraging prediction.
Ich werde ein Ersatzshirt in deine Schultasche packen.
I will put a spare shirt in your school bag.
Packen is natural for putting something into a bag. In deine Schultasche describes movement into the bag.
Dein Freund wird Spaß an den Spielen bei uns zu Hause haben.
Your friend will enjoy the games at our house.
Spaß an etwas haben means to enjoy something. Use deine Freundin for a female friend.
Wir werden am Samstag dein Taschengeld zählen.
We will count your pocket money on Saturday.
Use am with days of the week. Taschengeld is pocket money or an allowance.
Dein neuer Zahn wird in die Lücke hineinwachsen.
Your new tooth will grow into the gap.
Hineinwachsen means to grow into something. The whole infinitive goes at the end.
Ich werde dir heute Abend bei der schwierigen Frage in deinen Hausaufgaben helfen.
I will help you with the difficult homework question tonight.
Helfen takes the dative: dir means you here. Bei introduces the task you are helping with.
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Try it free for 7 daysKey words
jemanden abholen
to pick someone up
Use an accusative object: dich abholen means to pick you up.
das Lesen üben
to practise reading
A verb used as a noun is capitalized: lesen becomes das Lesen.
der Sportverein
sports club
A club where children or adults regularly take part in sports.
das Ersatzshirt
spare shirt
Ersatz- describes something kept as a replacement.
Spaß an etwas haben
to enjoy something
An takes the dative in this expression: an den Spielen.
das Taschengeld
pocket money; allowance
Usually used in the singular when discussing a child's spending money.
die Lücke
gap
Here it refers to the space left by a missing tooth.
jemandem bei etwas helfen
to help someone with something
Both the person after helfen and the task after bei use the dative.
Building Futur I
Use werden in the present tense plus the main verb in its infinitive form. In a statement, werden occupies the second position and the infinitive goes at the end.
| Use | Form | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Basic pattern | Subject + werden + other information + infinitive | Ich werde dich morgen abholen. |
| Time expression first | Time expression + werden + subject + other information + infinitive | Morgen werde ich dich abholen. |
| Separable verb | werden + ... + complete infinitive | Dein neuer Zahn wird in die Lücke hineinwachsen. |
Forms of werden
Only werden changes to match the subject. The final infinitive does not change.
| Use | Form | Example |
|---|---|---|
| I | ich werde | Ich werde dir helfen. |
| You: one child | du wirst | Du wirst die Regeln lernen. |
| He, she, it | er / sie / es wird | Dein Freund wird Spaß haben. |
| We | wir werden | Wir werden zusammen üben. |
| You: several children | ihr werdet | Ihr werdet zusammen spielen. |
| They; formal you | sie / Sie werden | Die Kinder werden zusammen spielen. |
Promises and predictions
Futur I can express a commitment or a prediction. Everyday German also often uses the present tense with a future time expression. Futur I can make the promise or prediction more explicit; it is not required just because an event is in the future.
| Use | Form | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Promise | ich werde / wir werden + ... + infinitive | Wir werden am Samstag dein Taschengeld zählen. |
| Prediction | Subject + werden + ... + infinitive | Du wirst bald die Regeln lernen. |
| Present tense with future meaning | Present tense + future time expression | Ich hole dich morgen ab. |
More examples
Morgen werden wir zusammen lesen.
Tomorrow we will read together.
Morgen comes first, so werden comes before the subject wir.
Ich werde dir nach dem Abendessen helfen.
I will help you after dinner.
Dir is the dative object of helfen. The infinitive helfen stays at the end.
Ihr werdet im neuen Sportverein Spaß haben.
You will have fun at the new sports club.
Use ihr werdet when reassuring more than one child. Im means in dem.