Future tense

The future tense

Which future you use is decided by aspect, not by when the action happens.

1. Compound future - an action that will be going on

Буду plus the infinitive of an imperfective verb:

Note the дз in будзеш, будзе, будзем, будзеце — dzekanne again, and the third person keeps its -ць.

2. Simple future - an action that will be finished

A perfective verb has no present tense, so its present-tense forms already mean the future:

• Я напішу ліст. — I will write the letter (and finish it).
• Мы прачытаем гэтую кнігу. — We will read this book through.
• Яна зробіць гэта заўтра. — She will do it tomorrow.

Compare the pair directly: буду пісаць ліст is "I will be writing the letter"; напішу ліст is "I will get the letter written".

The -му form

You will meet forms like рабіцьму and чытацьму in literature and in southern speech, where they carry the same meaning as буду рабіць. They are a genuine part of the language's range but not the ordinary written standard, so read them and do not build on them at this level.

If your first language is English

English chooses between will do and will be doing on grounds of duration. Belarusian looks similar but is choosing on completion instead, and the choice is built into the verb rather than into an auxiliary. Learn each verb as an aspect pair from the start and the future comes free.