Future

Icelandic has no future tense – just present and past. To talk about the future, you can use a number of different constructions.

ætla

The easiest way to start talking about future plans is to use the verb ætla (🥀1) + að + infinitive. The basic meaning is “to intend”:

Ætlið þið að fara í bíó?
Ég ætla að borga reikninginn á morgun.
Stebbi ætlar aldrei að flytja suður.

It can also be used to talk about events, but the meaning is slightly different. Here it’s more like “it’s likely to” or “I expect”:

Það ætlar að rigna um helgina.
Eurovision ætlar að vera skemmtilegt í ár!

As this second usage is quite nuanced, avoid relying on it for talking about things that aren’t plans or intentions until you’ve mastered the other future constructions.

verða

Think of verða (💪3) as the way to say “will be” or “become”. It simply replaces vera when you want to talk about the future:

Það verður gaman að sjá Sigga frænda um jólin!
Ég verð aldrei búin með þetta heimaverkefni!
„Við verðum ekki komnir fyrir hádegi,“ segir bílstjórinn.

note

Verða also means “must, have to”. When used in this meaning, verða is followed by að + infinitive:

Þú verður að fara út! Núna!

For a full discussion, see Modal verbs.

Simple present

The future can also be expressed with simple present and a time phrase (see Present for other uses and formation rules):

Við förum til Spánar í næstu viku.
Sindri fær lyklana afhenta á morgun.
Katla gýs ekki á næstunni.

munu

The modal verb munu (irregular) roughly translates as “will”. Simply add an infinitive after the conjugated form of munu.

Munu is not as commonly used as the constructions discussed above to talk about the future – it tends to be used when you want to really emphasise that something definitely will happen:

Pabbi mun borga reikninginn í dag.
Við munum gera betur næst.
Það mun ekki skipta máli hvað gerist, við erum búin að tapa stríðinu.

It’s also used with hafa + supine to state a supposition or assumption. 🤔 For example, a detective walking around a crime scene might see broken glass on the floor and say:

Þjófurinn mun hafa brotist inn um gluggann.

Despite not being used as often as other constructions to talk about the future, munu is frequently used in its subjunctive form mundi/myndi to talk in the conditional. See Conditional for a discussion.