Turkish/Future Tense

Future tense is the main way of expressing future in Turkish. Turkish future tense is the equivalent of be going to and will.

Formation in written language

Affirmative - Olumlu

The suffixes -ecek or -acak (according to the vowel harmony) and the personal ending are added to the verb stem. The k in the suffixes become a ğ before the 1st personal endings:

Verb stem (+ buffer letter –y if the verb is ending in a vowel) + appropriate form of ecek + personal ending

verb inflection • future tense gel ben geleceğim I will come biz geleceğiz we will come sen geleceksin you will come siz geleceksiniz you will come o gelecek he/she/it will come onlar gelecekler they will come

verb inflection • future tense koş ben koşacağım I will run biz koşacağız we will run sen koşacaksın you will run siz koşacaksınız you will run o koşacak he/she/it will run onlar koşacaklar they will run

Negative - Olumsuz

Negative verb stem (verb-me/ma-), auxiliary consonant y (it is used to establish a connection between two vowels), the suffixes -ecek or -acak (according to the vowel harmony) and the personal ending are added to the verb stem. The k in the suffixes become a ğ before the 1st personal endings:

Verb stem + appropriate form of me– + buffer letter –y + appropriate form of ecek + personal ending

verb inflection • future tense gel gelmemek ben gelmeyeceğim I will not come biz gelmeyeceğiz we will not come sen gelmeyeceksin you will not come siz gelmeyeceksiniz you will not come o gelmeyecek he/she/it will not come onlar gelmeyecekler they will not come

verb inflection • future tense koş koşmamak ben koşmayacağım I will not run biz koşmayacağız we will not run sen koşmayacaksın you will not run siz koşmayacaksınız you will not run o koşmayacak he/she/it will not run onlar koşmayacaklar they will not run

Interrogative - Soru

This is a bit complicated. Look at the examples, notice that personal endings for 3rd person plural come before the interrogative particle mı/mi/mu/mü, while other personal endings come after mı/mi/mu/mü. Also "mi" changes according to the vowel harmony although it is written as a separate word. If 1st personal ending come after mı/mi, -y- consonant should be added to make a connection between two vowels.

Verb stem (+ appropriate form of me–) + appropriate form of ecek     question particle mi + personal ending (personal ending comes before the interrogative particle in 3rd person plural)

Affirmative

verb inflection • future tense gel ben gelecek miyim will I come biz gelecek miyiz will we come sen gelecek misin will you come siz gelecek misiniz will you come o gelecek mi will he/she/it come onlar gelecekler mi will they come

verb inflection • future tense koş ben koşacak mıyım will I run biz koşacak mıyız will we run sen koşacak mısın will you run siz koşacak mısınız will you run o koşacak mı will he/she/it run onlar koşacaklar mı will they run

Negative

verb inflection • future tense gel
gelmemek
ben gelmeyecek miyim	won't I come	biz gelmeyecek miyiz	won't we come
sen gelmeyecek misin	won't you come	siz gelmeyecek misiniz	won't you come
o gelmeyecek mi	won't he/she/it come	onlar gelmeyecekler mi	won't they come

verb inflection • future tense koş
koşmamak
ben koşmayacak mıyım	won't I run	biz koşmayacak mıyız	won't we run
sen koşmayacak mısın	won't you run	siz koşmayacak mısınız	won't you run
o koşmayacak mı	won't he/she/it run	onlar koşmayacaklar mı	won't they run

Formation in colloquial language

While it is perfectly legibile to pronounce the future tense as it is written, this ending is often pronounced very differently in spoken language and in texting. This form of the ending is considerably more complicated than the written form, so it is completely acceptable to skip this part for a new learner.

Verbs ending in consonants

When the verb ends with a consonant, the first a/e in -acak/ecek drops, and the c respects consonant harmony, becoming -cak/cek/çak/çek.

döncek	It will turn
kalcak	It will stay
iççek	It will drink
aççak	It will open

Verbs ending in vowels

When the verb ends in a vowel, if the vowel is a/e, undergoes vowel narrowing, and becomes ı/i/u/ü. Meanwhile the a/e in the ending drops, but the y is retained, becoming -ycak/ycek.

yiycek	It will eat
uzuycak	It will extend
dönmüycek	It will drink

Personal endings

Similar to -yor, the ğ in the ending is often dropped, and the question particle comes after the personal ending.

içmek
ben iççem	I will drink
sen iççen mi	Will you drink?
o iççek	he/she will drink
biz iççez mi	Will we drink?
siz iççeniz mi	Will you drink?
onlar iççek(ler)	they will drink

Some people say also içicem, dönücem, kalıcam or içecem, dönecem, kalacam, etc.

Usage

In Turkish, we have a lot of ways about talking about the future. Even though -acak/ecek is the default tense we use while talking about the future, both the Aorist (-ar/er/ır/ir/ur/ür) and the Present (-yor) may be used instead, and it is important to learn the distinctions between these tenses.

Present Tense vs Future Tense

Similar to English, -yor may be used to talk about scheduled or planned events in the future.

• Yarın sinemaya gidiyoruz. We are going to the cinema tomorrow.
• Tren 15 dakikaya kalkıyor. The train is leaving in 15 minutes.

Using the Present Tense here also shows confidence from the speaker that the event will take place as planned. Compare:

• Ne zaman sinemaya gideceğiz? When will we go to the cinema?

• Ne zaman sinemaya gidiyoruz? When are we going to the cinema?

In the second example, the speaker is sure that there is a plan to go to the cinema, and just wants to learn when it is. On the other hand, there isn't a set time to go to the cinema in the first example, and the speaker wants to determine it now.

Aorist

While talking about predictions, assumptions or hypotheticals, we use the Aorist instead of the Future.

• Senden iyi öğretmen olur. You'd make a good teacher.
• Deprem bizim evimizi etkilemez. Earthquakes won't effect our house.

Compare:

• Yarın yağmur yağmayacak. It won't rain tomorrow
• Yarın yağmur yağmaz. I don't think it will rain tomorrow.

In the first example, the speaker is sure that it won't rain tomorrow, but in the second one, the speaker doesn't beleive it will rain, but isn't completely sure about it.

• Yarın kalemini veririm. I'll return your pencil tomorrow.
• Yarın kalemini vereceğim. I'll return your pencil tomorrow.

When used in the first person, the Aorist implies a commitment or promise, while the Future implies certainty. In the second example, the speaker has already checked if they can return the pencil tomorrow, and is sure that they can return it, and thus uses the Future Tense to present it as a fact. Meanwhile the first example implies that the speaker will try their best to return the pencil, but isn't sure if there will be any obstacles preventing them.

The word herhâlde (probably) is often used in conjunction with this usage of the aorist.

• Herhâlde yağmur yağmaz. It probably won't rain.

Future tense used for commands

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