INTRODUCTION
A fortune teller might be able to tell many things about you, even though most of them are probably not honest enough. Truth be told, it’s very hard to say what things will happen for certain, other than death and taxes. For example, what will happen in a 100 years’ time? What about a 1000? How about expressing desires and goals, of things that you plan to do or events that will happen somewhere far from now. Welcome to the future.
Future tense is one of the three tenses in Nepali, used to denote or express actions that will occur or has not happened yet. It can also be used to denote a state that will exist, which does not right now. In Nepali, the future tense is called भविष्यत् काल (bhaviṣyat kāl). For example, statements below in English all denote actions that will occur or states that will exist later on (verbs in italics):
John will eat the cake.
Mary will be going to an adventure.
I will be a doctor.
Thus, the future tense is used to denote a sense of the ‘future’ time. There are three aspects of future tense, parallel with English:
- Future indefinite tense
- Future progressive tense
- Future perfect tense
Now, we shall see how verbs will conjugate according to the grammatical person used.
VOCABULARY
खानु (khānu) = To eat
रोक्नु (roknu) = To stop
म (ma) = I
हामी (hāmī) = We
तँ (tam̐) = You (low respect)
तिमी (timī) = You (medium respect)
तपाईँ (tapāīm̐) = You (high respect)
ऊ (ū) = He/ She (neutral respect)
उनी (unī) = He/ She (medium respect)
उहाँ (uhām̐) = He/ She (high respect)
उनीहरू (unī-harū) = They (medium respect)
EXTRACTING THE ROOT OF THE VERB
We first get the lemma, or the basic form of the verb. Now, we simply remove the -नु (-nu) from the verb to obtain the root of the verb. For example:
खानु (khānu) > खा (khā) [Root ending in a vowel sound] /to eat/
रोक्नु (roknu) > रोक् (rok) [Root ending in a consonant sound] /to stop/
EXCEPTIONS
The verb हुनु (hunu) or ‘to be’ in Nepali is irregular and thus does not follow the conjugation rules given below. Thus, you should not try to attempt conjugating this verb. Another verb, जानु (jānu) or ‘to go’, also behaves slightly differently in future perfect tense. When such, the root ‘ग’ (ga) should be used instead.
Other verbs are regular in case of future tense and you can apply the rules below for all the other verbs. High honour forms may take different conjugations.
FUTURE INDEFINITE TENSE
The future indefinite tense, also known as simple future tense, is a tense used to describe actions in future time that have not happened. In Nepali, it is called सामान्य भविष्यत् काल (sāmānya bhaviṣyat kāl). For example in English, a statement in future indefinite tense would be:
John will eat the cake.
Steps
- Add the required suffix (or ending) to the root depending on the grammatical person.
I: म (ma), add नेछु (nechu)
रोक्नु (roknu) = रोक् (rok) + नेछु (nechu) = रोक्नेछु (roknechu)
खानु (khānu) = खा (khā) + नेछु (nechu) = खानेछु (khānechu)
We: हामी (hāmī), add नेछौँ (nechaum̐)
रोक्नु (roknu) = रोक् (rok) + नेछौँ (nechaum̐) = रोक्नेछौँ (roknechaum̐)
खानु (khānu) = खा (khā) + नेछौँ (nechaum̐) = खानेछौँ (khānechaum̐)
You (low respect): तँ (tam̐), add नेछस् (nechas) ifmasculine or नेछेस् (neches) if feminine
रोक्नु (roknu) = रोक् (rok) + नेछस् (nechas) = रोक्नेछस् (roknechas)
खानु (khānu) = खा (khā) + नेछस् (nechas) = खानेछस् (khānechas)
रोक्नु (roknu) = रोक् (rok) + नेछेस् (neches) = रोक्नेछेस् (rokneches)
खानु (khānu) = खा (khā) + नेछेस् (nehes) = खानेछेस् (khāneches)
You (medium respect): तिमी (timī), add नेछौ (nechau) if masculine or नेछ्यौ (nechyau) if feminine
रोक्नु (roknu) = रोक् (rok) + नेछौ (nechau) = रोक्नेछौ (roknechau)
खानु (khānu) = खा (khā) + नेछौ (nechau) = खानेछौ (khānechau)
रोक्नु (roknu) = रोक् (rok) + नेछ्यौ (nechyau) = रोक्नेछ्यौ (roknechyau)
खानु (khānu) = खा (khā) + नेछ्यौ (nechyau) = खानेछ्यौ (khānechyau)
He (neutral respect): ऊ (ū), add नेछ (necha)
रोक्नु (roknu) = रोक् (rok) + नेछ (necha) = रोक्छ (roknecha)
खानु (khānu) = खा (khā) + नेछ (necha) = खान्छ (khānecha)
She (neutral respect): ऊ (ū), add नेछे (che)
रोक्नु (roknu) = रोक् (rok) + नेछे (neche) = रोक्छे (rokneche)
खानु (khānu) = खा (khā) + नेछे (neche) = खान्छे (khāneche)
He/She/They (medium respect): उनी (unī) and उनीहरू (unī-harū), add नेछन्(chan) if masculine or नेछिन् (chin) if feminine
रोक्नु (roknu) = रोक् (rok) + नेछन् (nechan) = रोक्नेछन् (roknechan)
खानु (khānu) = खा (khā) + नेछन् (nechan) = खानेछन् (khānechan)
रोक्नु (roknu) = रोक् (rok) + नेछिन् (nechin) = रोक्नेछिन् (roknechin)
खानु (khānu) = खा (khā) + नेछिन् (nechin) = खानेछिन् (khānechin)
You/He/She/They (high respect): तपाईँ(tapāīm̐) and उहाँ(uhām̐), leave the basic form intact and add हुनेछ (huncha) [EXCEPTION]
रोक्नु (roknu) = रोक्नु (roknu) + हुनेछ (hunecha) = रोक्नुहुनेछ (roknuhunecha)
खानु (khānu) = खानु (khānu) + हुनेछ (hunecha) = खानुहुनेछ (khānuhunecha)
FUTURE PROGRESSIVE TENSE
The future progressive tense, also known as future continuous tense, is a tense used to describe actions in future time that will be happening in a continuous fashion. In Nepali, it is called अपूर्ण भविष्यत् काल (apūrṇa bhaviṣyat kāl). For example in English, a statement in future progressive tense would be:
John will be eating the cake.
Steps
- If the root ends in a syllable or a vowel sound, add ँ (m̐) to the last syllable. If the root ends in a consonant sound, skip this step. For example: खा (khā) + ँ (m̐) = खाँ (khām̐)
- Add दै (dai) to the end of the modified root obtained in step 1.
- Add a space ( ).
- Add the required ending to the modified root obtained in step 3 depending on the grammatical person. These suffixes are the various forms of hunecha, which you can find here.
The below are demonstrations on how you can carry this out.
I: म (ma), add हुनेछु (hunechu)
रोक्नु (roknu) = रोक् (rok) + दै (dai) + [space] + हुनेछु (hunechu) = रोक्दै हुनेछु (rokdai hunechu)
खानु (khānu) = [खा (khā) + ँ (m̐)] + दै (dai) + [space] + हुनेछु (hunechu) = खाँ (khām̐) + दै (dai) + [space] + हुनेछु (hunechu) = खाँदै हुनेछु (khām̐dai hunechu)
He (neutral respect): ऊ (ū), add हुनेछ (hunecha)
रोक्नु (roknu) = रोक् (rok) + दै (dai) + [space] + हुनेछ (hunecha) = रोक्दै हुनेछ (rokdai hunecha)
खानु (khānu) = खाँ (khām̐) + दै (dai) + [space] + हुनेछ (hunecha) = खाँदै हुनेछ (khām̐dai hunecha)
You/He/She/They (high respect): तपाईँ (tapāīm̐) and उहाँ (uhām̐), add हुनुहुनेछ (hunuhunecha)
रोक्नु (roknu) = रोक्दै (rokdai) + हुनुहुनेछ (hunuhunecha) = रोक्दै हुनुहुनेछ (rokdai hunuhunecha)
खानु (khānu) = खाँदै (khām̐dai) + हुनुहुनेछ (hunuhunecha) = खाँदै हुनुहुनेछ (khām̐dai hunuhunecha)
FUTURE PERFECT TENSE
The future perfect tense is a tense used to describe actions that will be finished at some point in the future. In Nepali, it is called पूर्ण भविष्यत् काल (pūrṇa bhaviṣyat kāl). For example in English, a statement in future perfect tense would be:
John will have eaten the cake.
Steps
- If the root ends in a single vowel sound, remove it. If the root is polysyllabic (i.e. has more than one syllable) and ends in an –a sound, e.g. बिर्स (birsa), turn that into an -i sound, i.e. बिर्स (birsa) > बिर्सि (birsi). If else the root ends in a consonant or syllable sound, skip this step. For example: आउ (āu) = आ (ā)
- Add एको (eko)/ एकी (ekī)/ एका (ekā) to the end of the modified root obtained in step 1. The first for neutral/masculine singular, the second for feminine singular and the third for plural cases. Remember that the consonant will take on a diacritic while taking up the vowel sound.
- Add a space ( ).
- Add the required ending to the modified root obtained in step 3 depending on the grammatical person. These suffixes are identical to the ones in future progressive tense. Note that these suffixes or endings are the different forms of the verb ‘hunecha’.
I: म (ma), add हुनेछु (hunehu)
रोक्नु (roknu) = रोक् (rok) + एको (eko) + [space] + हुनेछु (hunechu) = रोकेको हुनेछु (rokeko hunechu)
खानु (khānu) = खा (khā) + एको (eko) + [space] + हुनेछु (hunechu) = खाएको हुनेछु (khāeko hunechu)
आउनु (āunu) = आ (ā) + एको (eko) + [space] + हुनेछु (hunechu) = आएको हुनेछु (āeko hunechu)
He (neutral respect): ऊ (ū), add हुनेछ (hunecha)
रोक्नु (roknu) = रोक् (rok) + एको (eko) + [space] + हुनेछ (hunecha) = रोकेको हुनेछ (rokeko hunecha)
खानु (khānu) = खा (khā) + एको (eko) + [space] + हुनेछ (hunecha) = खाएको हुनेछ (khāeko hunecha)
You/He/She/They (high respect): तपाईँ (tapāīm̐) and उहाँ (uhām̐), leave the verb intact, add भ (bha), then add एको (eko) [or its forms], and finally add हुनेछ (hunecha) [EXCEPTION]
रोक्नु (roknu) = रोक्नु (roknu) + भ (bha) + एको (eko) + [space] + हुनेछ (hunecha) = रोक्नुभएको हुनेछ (roknubhaeko hunecha)
खानु (khānu) = खानु (khānu) + भ (bha) + एको (eko) + [space] + हुनेछ (hunecha) = खानुभएको हुनेछ (khānubhaeko hunecha)
SUMMARY
- Future tense is one of the three tenses in Nepali, used to denote or express actions that will occur or has not happened yet
- There are three aspects: indefinite, progressive, perfect
- The root can be extracted by removing the –nu from the lemma
- To this root, we add various suffixes according to the grammatical person
- The future indefinite tense, also known as simple future tense, is a tense used to describe actions in future time that have not happened
- The future progressive tense, also known as future continuous tense, is a tense used to describe actions in future time that will be happening in a continuous fashion
- The future perfect tense is a tense used to describe actions that will be finished at some point in the future
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