Whenever students want to talk about the future, they often get wollen and werden mixed up. It’s understandable, because ‘ich will’ sounds like ‘I will’. But it’s a false friend, because ‘ich will’ means ‘I want’.
When asked, for example, “Was wirst du morgen machen?” (What will you do tomorrow?) students told me “Ich will ins Kino gehen.” Of course, there is nothing wrong with that sentence, but it means ‘I want to go to the cinema’, not ‘I will go to the cinema’.
You might argue that there isn’t much of a difference as maybe the person isn’t too sure yet whether they will go to the cinema, but they want to.
True, but what about these answers to the same question?
“Ich werde zum Zahnarzt gehen.”
“Ich will zum Zahnarzt gehen.”
I don’t know about you, but often I could have answered with ‘I will go to the dentist.’ (because I have to), but I would have never replied with ‘I want to go to the dentist.’
Some more examples:
- “Ich will nach Australien fliegen.” (I want to, but it may never happen)
“Ich werde nach Australien fliegen.” (I will fly to Australia, I’ve booked my ticket.) - “Ich will mein Zimmer aufräumen.” (‘I want to tidy up my room’, ever heard that sentence? No, me neither!)
“Ich werde mein Zimmer aufräumen.” (Yes, yes, I will tidy up my room.) - “Ich will nächstes Jahr meinen Führerschein machen.” (I want to get my driver’s license next year, just need to save up for the lessons)
“Ich werde nächstes Jahr meinen Führerschein machen.” (I am determined, I will get my driver’s license next year.)
In each of these examples, the use of “ich will” indicates a desire or intention, while the use of “ich werde” indicates a future action or plan.
Of course, modal verbs to indicate what you would like to do, are a great way to talk about the future tense. You can’t use all of them, but wollen, möchten or müssen are perfect for indicating something that you want, would like or have to do in the future.
The following video is from my online course German tenses 3 – the future tenses
Or, if you prefer, read the slides:
So to recap, using ‘ich will’ and ‘ich werde’ for a future tense sentence is great, just be aware to use the right one. Use ‘ich will’ if you want to do something, and ‘ich werde’ when you will do something.
Last one:
“Ich will Deutsch lernen.” (I want to learn German.)
“Ich werde Deutsch lernen.” (I will learn German.)
If you need help to get from the first sentence to the second, contact me.
