Language/Ukrainian/Grammar/Future-Tense

Ukrainian Grammar - Future Tense

Hi Ukrainian learners! 😊
In this lesson, we will learn about the future tense in Ukrainian. The future tense is used to describe actions that will happen in the future. Like in any language, it is an essential part of Ukrainian language learning. To improve your Ukrainian Grammar, you can also use the Polyglot Club website. Find native speakers and ask them any questions!

Forming the Future Tense

To form the future tense in Ukrainian, we use different endings depending on the verb. For regular verbs, we add the following endings to the infinitive:

Verb type	Ending
-ти verbs (e.g. грати - to play)	-тиму
-ти verbs with stem ending in с or з (e.g. прощатися - to say goodbye)	-щу
-ити verbs (e.g. писати - to write)	-ю
-ути and -юти verbs (e.g. лікувати - to heal)	-уватиму, -юватиму

For irregular verbs, we use the future stem and add the endings. Let's take a look at some examples:

Ukrainian	Pronunciation	English
пити (to drink)	/ˈpɪ.tɪ/	I will drink
мати (to have)	/ˈmɑ.tɪ/	I will have
бути (to be)	/ˈbu.tɪ/	I will be
робити (to do/make)	/ro.ˈbɪ.tɪ/	I will do/make

Using the Future Tense

The future tense is used to describe actions that will happen in the future. Here are some examples:

• Я напишу листа завтра. (Ya napishu lysta zavtra.) - I will write a letter tomorrow.
• Вони поїдуть у відпустку на два тижні. (Vony poyidut' u vidpustku na dva tizhni.) - They will go on vacation for two weeks.
• Вона скаже йому правду. (Vona skazhe yomu pravdu.) - She will tell him the truth.

Dialogue

Here's a dialogue to see the future tense in context:

• Person 1: Які плани на вихідні? (Yaki plany na vykhidni?) - What are the plans for the weekend?
• Person 2: Я поїду до Карпат. (Ya poyidu do Karpat.) - I will go to the Carpathians.
• Person 1: Цікаво. Коли саме? (Tsiyavo. Koly same?) - Interesting. When exactly?
• Person 2: У суботу. (U subotu.) - On Saturday.

Recap

In this lesson, we learned about the future tense in Ukrainian. We saw how to form it for regular and irregular verbs, and we also saw some examples of how it is used. If you are interested in learning more about Ukrainian grammar, make sure to check our Grammar page. Don't hesitate to practice with native speakers and to ask any questions you may have!

Sources

• Future tense in Ukrainian - Майбутній час - Ukrainian Lessons
• When to use different forms of the future tense? — Ukrainian Grammar

Other Lessons

• Feminine
• The possessive pronoun sviy
• Past imperfective Tense
• Verb to work
• Personal Pronouns
• How to Use Have
• Adjectives
• Adverbs of quantity: how many
• Negation