There are two Future Tenses in the Polish language. If you already know
Present Tense and
Past Tense , then learning Future Tense should be very easy.
Future Simple Tense
Future Simple Tense looks like Present Tense, but instead of imperfective verbs it uses perfective verbs. Perfective verbs describe completed, one-time activity. To conjugate verbs in this tense
use the same endings classes as in Present Tense . The table below displays examples of imperfective and perfective verbs.
Examples
An important point to note is that imperfective and perfective verbs from the same pair do not always use the same endings class. For example, the verb to buy in the table above uses two different endings classes. Its imperfective form uses -ę -esz endings class and its perfective form uses -ię -isz endings class.
The table below shows full conjugations of the perfective verbs from the table above:
napisać– to writeperf
kupić– to buyperf
przeczytać– to readperf
zjeść– to eatperf
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Future Tense Continuous
To express continuous, unfinished activity in the future, use Future Tense Continuous. This tense requires imperfective verbs and the verb być (to be) as an auxiliary verb. The verb być must be conjugated using its Future forms:
To create a sentence in Future Tense Continuous you have two options:
- use the infinitive form of the imperfective verb (easier method)
- first, choose the correct form of the verb być from the table above
- second, add the imperfective verb you want to use in its infinitive form
- use the Past Tense third-person form of the imperfective verb (harder method)
- first, choose the correct form of the verb być from the table above
- second, add the imperfective verb you want to use in its Past Tense third-person form
Both methods may be used interchangeably. The easier method is commonly used while speaking. The harder method is usually chosen in literature. It appears more formal and carries additional information about the gender of the subject of the sentence.
The table below shows all possible combinations of Future Tense Continuous forms of the verb pisać (to write).
Example
Bonus curiosity at the end 🙂. When chatting online with Polish people you may often see something like this -bd
Examples
bd wyjeżdżał za 5 minut. – I’ll be leaving in 5 minutes.
bd szli do kina. – We’ll be going to the cinema.
This is a very common shortcut among young people for all the Future Tense forms of the verb być.
