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     Table of Contents Chapter 18 18.7.1 Future to express doubts
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Chapter 18: The verb werden

  18.7.1 Future to express doubts (and assumptions)


In the German language there is a funny extra use for the future construction: the expression of doubt or an assumption. In these doubts and assumptions, there is the grammatical form of future tenses but no time mentioned.

Examples  
  Er wird wissen, was er tut. = (I assume, I doubt that) he knows what he is doing.
  Sie werden wohl das ganze Geld ausgegeben haben. = (I suppose) they have spent all their money.

This use of the future is rather common in spoken language, because with the voice (and even the face) of the speaker it is much easier to get the idea of a doubt or a presumption. In written language the form used would most likely be: Ich denke, er wird wissen, was er tut. or something alike to make sure that the expression is an assumption. or: Ich bezweifle,

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