This study has a two-fold purpose. First, the author examines conversational data to determine the distribution of the morphological future, the periphrastic future and the simple present as they are used by residents of Barranquilla, Colombia to express futurity. Secondly, the author identifies the linguistic factors significant in this distribution and explains the impact of those factors. The results of this study augment our knowledge of language variation and change in Spanish as well as in all Romance languages.