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What is Future Tense?
Defining Futurity
In grammar, a future tense is a verb form that typically marks an event described by the verb as not having occurred yet, but expected to happen in the future. This future is usually relative to the moment of speaking, though it can be relative to another point in time in specific contexts.
Expression Across Languages
Many languages do not possess a distinct grammatical future tense. Instead, they rely on context, temporal adverbs (like "tomorrow"), or other grammatical structures to convey future meaning. Some languages, however, have developed specific markers, often through auxiliary verbs or morphological changes, to explicitly indicate futurity.
Modality and Certainty
The expression of future events inherently involves modality—the speaker's attitude towards the event's reality. This can range from probability (what the speaker expects) to intent (what the speaker plans). The degree of conviction influences how the future is grammatically marked.
Expressions of Futurity
Grammaticalization
Temporal adverbs, particularly those indicating "tomorrow" or "then," can evolve into grammaticalized future tense markers. This process, known as grammaticalization, transforms lexical items into grammatical functions, often leading to the development of specific future tense forms.
Auxiliary Constructions
Many languages utilize auxiliary verbs to express the future. For instance, English commonly employs modal auxiliaries like "will" or "shall" with the bare infinitive of the main verb. In other languages, these auxiliaries merge with the main verb, forming a single, morphologically marked future tense form.
Semantic Nuances
The various ways languages express the future often carry subtle semantic distinctions beyond mere futurity. These can include aspect (how an event unfolds in time) and modality (the speaker's perspective on the event's likelihood or volition), requiring contextual interpretation.
Germanic Languages
English
English primarily uses modal auxiliaries like "will" or "shall" with the infinitive (e.g., "He will win"). While some argue English lacks a true inflectional future tense, these constructions are widely recognized as future markers. Other forms, like the "going-to" future ("John is going to leave"), also express futurity.
Dutch
Dutch expresses the future using "gaan" (to go) + infinitive ("Ik ga het boek lezen" - I am going to read the book), "zullen" (shall/will) + infinitive ("Ik zal het boek lezen" - I will read the book), or the present tense with context. "Zullen" is closer to "shall" and can imply intention or certainty.
Swedish
Swedish uses "skall" (shall) to imply intention, often modified by adverbs like "nog" (probably). For a more neutral future, "kommer att" (comes to) is used (e.g., "Det här kommer att gå bra" - This will go well). Spoken Swedish often favors the present tense with time specification.
Latin and Romance Languages
Latin Roots
Classical Latin featured distinct future tense suffixes (e.g., amabo[1] - I shall love). However, Vulgar Latin developed periphrastic constructions using the infinitive and auxiliary verbs like "habere" (to have). This innovation ultimately led to the simple future tenses found in modern Romance languages.
French Example
The French future tense is derived from the infinitive plus a conjugated form of "avoir" (to have). For example, "aimer" (to love) becomes "aimerai"[2] (I will love), demonstrating the grammaticalization of the auxiliary verb.
| Pronoun | Infinitive | Auxiliary (avoir) | Future Tense |
|---|---|---|---|
| je | aimer | ai | aimerai |
| tu | as | aimeras | |
| il/elle/on | a | aimera | |
| nous | avons | aimerons | |
| vous | avez | aimerez | |
| ils/elles | ont | aimeront |
Spanish & Portuguese
Similarly, Spanish and Portuguese form their future tenses by appending conjugated forms of "haber" (to have) to the infinitive. Phonetic changes often alter the infinitive stem, resulting in forms like Spanish saldré[3] (from salir - to go out) instead of *saliré.
| Pronoun | Infinitive | Auxiliary (haber) | Future Tense |
|---|---|---|---|
| yo | comprar | he | compraré |
| tú | has | comprarás | |
| él/ella/usted | ha | comprará | |
| nosotros | hemos | compraremos | |
| vosotros | habéis | compraréis | |
| ellos/ellas/ustedes | han | comprarán |
Indo-Aryan Languages
Hindi Verb System
Hindi verbs conjugate for aspect (habitual, perfective, progressive) and mood (indicative, presumptive, subjunctive, etc.). The future is primarily expressed through the subjunctive mood, often combined with suffixes like -gā (masculine singular) to form the indicative future.
Hindi Future Inflection
The future indicative in Hindi is constructed using future subjunctive forms, with the suffix -gā (declined for gender and number). This system also includes a "prospective future" using the participle -vālā followed by the auxiliary "honā" (to be).
| Gender | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| ♂ | -गा (-gā) | -गे (-gē) |
| ♀ | -गी (-gī) | |
| Pronoun | Future Subjunctive | Future Indicative | Subjunctive Perfective | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Person | Plurality | Formality | Pronoun | ♂ | ♀ | ♂ | ♀ | |
| 1st | Singular | — | मैं (maiṁ) | करूँ (karūṁ) | करूँगा (karūṁgā) | करूँगी (karūṁgī) | किया (kiyā) | की (kī) |
| Plural | — | हम (ham) | करें (kareṁ) | करेंगे (kareṁge) | करेंगी (kareṁgī) | किये (kiye) | कीं (kīṁ) | |
| 2nd | Singular | Intimate | तू (tū) | करे (kare) | करेगा (karegā) | करेगी (karegī) | किया (kiyā) | की (kī) |
| Plural | Familiar | तुम (tum) | करो (karo) | करोगे (karoge) | करोगी (karogī) | किये (kiye) | कीं (kīṁ) | |
| Plural | Formal | आप (āp) | करें (kareṁ) | करेंगे (kareṁge) | करेंगी (kareṁgī) | किये (kiye) | कीं (kīṁ) | |
Semitic Languages
Hebrew
Biblical Hebrew distinguishes past (Perfect) and future (Imperfect) tenses. The "Waw consecutive" construct can invert time references, making the Perfect consecutive refer to the future and the Imperfect consecutive to the past. Modern Hebrew primarily uses the imperfect form for the future.
Arabic
Arabic forms the future tense by prefixing "sa-" or "sawfa" to the present tense verb. "Sa-" typically indicates a nearer future, while "sawfa" suggests a more distant future. Dialectal variations exist, with many using verbs like "want to" or "go to" to express future actions.
| Form | Meaning |
|---|---|
| سآكل تفاحاً (Saakulu tuffahan) | I will eat apples (near future) |
| سوف آكل تفاحاً (Sawfa akulu tuffahan) | I will eat apples (distant future) |
Creole Languages
General Tendencies
Creole languages often model future tense markers on "go" from their superstrate languages, similar to English "am going to." Many creoles emphasize aspect over tense, and when tense/aspect/modality are marked, they typically appear as invariant pre-verbal particles in a specific sequence (anterior, irrealis, imperfective).
Jamaican Creole
In Jamaican Creole, future tense is marked by pre-verbal particles like /de go/ or /a go/, as in "mi a go ronn" (I am going to run).
Belizean Creole
Belizean Creole uses pre-verbal particles like /(w)a(n)/, /gwein/, or /gou/ to indicate the future tense.
Gullah & Hawaiian Creole
Gullah uses the marker "gwine" (e.g., "Uh gwine he'p dem" - I'm going to help them). Hawaiian Creole employs "gon" (e.g., "Ai gon bai wan pikap" - I'm going to buy a pickup).
Haitian Creole
Haitian Creole interchangeably uses "pral" or "va" (from French "va" - goes) pre-verbally to mark the future, such as "Mwen va fini" (I will finish).
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References
References
- The 1st person plural pronoun हम (ham) is used as both the 1st person singular and 1st person plural pronoun in the eastern Hindi dialects.
- The conjugations of the 2nd person intimate तॠ(tÅ«) and formal à¤à¤ª (Äp) pronouns are the same as the singular and plural demonstrative pronouns conjugations, respectively.
- The pronouns तà¥à¤® (tum) and à¤à¤ª (Äp) are grammatically plural pronouns however, they are also used as singular pronouns, akin to the English pronoun "you".
- Hindi doesn't have pronouns in the third person and the demonstrative pronouns double as the third person pronouns when they not have a noun argument.
- Ãsten Dahl, Tense and Aspect Systems, Blackwell, 1985, pp. 105â106.
- Fleischman, Suzanne, The Future in Thought and Language, Cambridge Univ. Press, 1982: pp. 18â19, 86â89, and 95â97.
- Exodus 4:1 King James Version (Oxford Standard, 1769)
- Isaiah 2:2 King James Version (Oxford Standard, 1769)
- Bybee, Joan, Revere Perkins, and William Pagliuca, The Evolution of Grammar, Univ. of Chicago Press, 1994.
- Li, Charles N., and Sandra A. Thomson, Mandarin Chinese: A Functional Reference Grammar, 1989.
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