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40 Future Tense
We have learned how to make the present tense. We also know how to make the
past tense. But what about the future tense? It’s quite easy to make in Croatian.
First you need the infinitive form of the verb you want to use. That’s really easy,
since infinitive forms are found in any dictionary.
Next, you need forms of an auxiliary verb that’s simply made from present of the
verb htjeti (hoće +, htio, htjela) want by dropping the first syllable (ho). It requires
placement at the second position and looks like this:
pers. sing. plur.
1st ću² ćemo²
2nd ćeš² ćete²
3rd će² će²
For example:
Goran N će jesti. Goran will eat.
There’s a rather strange rule: if an infinitive on -ti is followed immediately by an
future auxiliary (ću², ćeš², etc.) the final -i in the infinitive is dropped:
Jest ću. I’ll eat. ®
This of course also applies to the verb biti (je² +) be:
Bit će hladno. It will be cold.
This doesn’t apply to verbs having infinitives ending in -ći:
Ići ćemo u školu A . We’ll go to school.
Colloquially, it’s quite common to leave out -i from the infinitive -ti always, so you’ll
hear quite often:
Goran N će jest. (colloq.) Goran will eat.
(You’ll also often see, mostly in casual writing, non-standard spellings where the
final -i is not dropped, e.g. biti ću, and so on.)
As all other verbal second-position forms – the only exception being je² – all the
forms ću², ćeš², će²... come before any second-position pronouns:
Bit će ti DL hladno. You’ll be cold.
2
Čut ćemo se. ‘We’ll hear each other.’ (i.e. We’ll be in touch over phone.)
The form će² is ambiguous – it doesn’t distinguish singular and plural:
Vidjet će me A . He/She/They will see me.
1
Of course, you can always add a subject pronoun if the meaning is not clear from