The future tense in Croatian

Of all the Croatian tenses, which are normally quite complex, first future tense (futur prvi) is probably the simplest one.

Even though it is a compound tense - which means it involves two verbs, the main verb and an auxiliary verb - it's really straightforward.

A second future tense (futur drugi) also exists but is only used in hypothetical future situations (future conditionals), as will be explained in one of our next posts.

Verbs in the future tense

To make the futur prvi, it is enough to learn the forms of the auxiliary verb htjeti (to want), as the main verb is always used in the infinitive.

The verb htjeti has both a long, stressed form (naglašeni oblik) and a short, unstressed form (nenaglašeni oblik). The stressed form of the verb htjeti is used to form yes / no questions.

To form the future tense, the unstressed form of the verb is used:

How is the future tense formed?

Examples:

jesti - to eat → Ja ću jesti. - I will eat.
pjevati - to sing →Ti ćeš pjevati.- You will sing.
ići - to go → Ona će ići. - She will go.
doći - to come → Oni će doći. - They will come.

What if the subject is omitted?

When omitting the pronoun in a declarative sentence in the future tense, the main verb always comes before the auxiliary. You might already be familiar with this pattern if you know how to make Croatian past tense.

Examples:

Ona će ići. → Ići će. – She will go.
Oni će doći. → Doći će. – They will come.

When we apply the same rule to verbs that end in -ti, they lose their final -i.

Examples:

Ja ću jesti. - I will eat. → Jest ću. (*NOT: Jesti ću.)
Ti ćeš pjevati. - You will sing. → Pjevat ćeš. (*NOT: Pjevati ćeš)

On the other hand, verbs ending in -ći, never change in the future tense.

Forming negative sentences

To form negative sentences, the prefix ne- is added to the corresponding form of the verb htjeti to create a negative form of this verb.

Examples:

Ja ću jesti. - I will eat. → (Ja) neću jesti. - I will not eat.
Ti ćeš pjevati. - You will sing. → (Ti) nećeš pjevati. - You will not sing.
Ona će ići. - She will go. → (Ona) neće ići. - She will not go.
Oni će doći. - They will come. → (Oni) neće doći. - They will not come.

Asking questions about the future

a) To ask yes/no questions about the future, the stressed form of the verb htjeti (to want) should be used, together with the word “li”:

Ja ću jesti. - I will eat. → Hoću li (ja) jesti? – Will I eat?
Ti ćeš pjevati. - You will sing. → Hoćeš li (ti) pjevati? – Will you sing?
Ona će ići. - She will go. → Hoće li (ona) ići? – Will she go?
Oni će doći. - They will come. → Hoće li (oni) doći? – Will they come?

b) With all other questions, the question word comes first, the unstressed form of the word htjeti (to want) comes second and “li” is not used.

Ja ću jesti. - I will eat. → Što ću (ja) jesti? - What will I eat?
Ti ćeš pjevati. - You will sing. → Zašto ćeš (ti) pjevati? - Why will you sing?
Ona će ići. - She will go. → Kada će (ona) ići? - When will she go?
Oni će doći. - They will come. → Kako će (oni) doći? - How will they come?