EasyCroatian_r47.an

Easy Croaan (rev. 47b) / 40 Future Tense 234 / 600
the context.
To express negation, use simply negative present forms of the verb htjeti, obtained
by adding ne- to the ću², ćeš², etc. The negative forms are not restricted to the
second position, they are rather placed before the verb in infinitive:
Neću jesti. I won’t eat.
Nećemo ići u školu A . We won’t go to school.
To ask questions about the future, you can use all usual ways to form questions. The
standard way of forming yes/no questions requires full forms of the auxiliary verb,
that is, putting back the ho:
Hoćemo li ići u školu A ? Will we go to school?
In colloquial speech, it’s possible to shorten the present of htjeti (hoću, hoćeš, etc.)
to just ću², ćeš²... to express that you want to get something right away:
Ja N ću pizzu A . (colloq.) I’ll take a pizza.
The negative existential construction – which is nema + G in the present tense – uses
the verb biti (je² +) be in the future tense instead (as in the past tense):
Neće biti piva G . There will be no beer.
There’s one more way of expressing future: with the verb ići (ide, išao, išla) go (in
the present tense) + infinitive:
Idem prati zube A . I’ll ‘wash’ my teeth right now. (= brush)
ići
(In Croatian, teeth are ‘washed’, not ‘brushed’.) Such expressions can only be used if
somebody is willingly and immediately intending to take an action: the very next
thing that person intends to do is grabbing a toothbrush.
This is completely different from the English ‘going-to’ future, which can be used in
e.g. it’s going to rain (as a prediction). Such predictions in Croatian can be expressed
only with the plain ću², ćeš²... future:
Padat će kiša N . It’s going to rain.
It’s also possible to use this kind of future tense in Croatian to suggest people what
to do right now:
Idemo piti pivo A . Let’s have beer now.
ići
As you can see, the Croatian sentence has a completely different structure than the
English one. Translating it word-for-word – we’re going to drink beer – misses its
meaning completely.