The future tense in Romanian can be constructed in three different ways, or avoided like the plague/potholes/Al Gore for those of us with lesser linguistic abilities. If you would still like to use it, the constructions are:
1. present tense + time expression
2. 'o' + subjunctive
3. conjugation of "voi" + verb infinitive
Confused? Don't worry, we don't expect you to understand yet! Just keep reading....
1. Present Tense + Time Expression
Here is an example of what we're talking about.
Mergem la Salonta mîine dimineață. We're going to Salonta tomorrow morning.
Prietenul meu vine din munți poimîine. My friend is coming from the mountains the day after tomorrow.
You can see that the verbs (in bold face) are conjugated in the present tense, but the time expressions that follow imply the future tense. Here are some more time expressions that can be used:
| mîine |
tomorrow |
| poimîine |
day after tomorrow |
| răspoimîine |
3 days after today |
| mîine dimineață |
tomorrow morning |
| acuma seara |
tonight |
| săptămâna viitoare |
next week |
| luna viitoare |
next month |
| anul viitor |
next year |
| mîine seară |
tomorrow evening |
| seara asta |
tonight, this evening |
2. 'O' + Subjunctive
Another way to form the future is by combining 'o' and the subjunctive. For example:
O să bem apă minerală la casa lui Victor. We will drink mineral water at Victor's house.
O să vezi tu însuți cînd vine. You will see for yourself when he comes.
Nu știm dacă o să vină și ea. We don't know if she's coming too.
3. Conjugation of "Voi" plus verb infinitive
The third way to form the future is by using "voi", a form of the verb meaning "to want"(much like english "I will do this").
Below you will find the conjugation of "voi" needed for the future tense:
| eu |
voi |
| tu |
vei |
| el, ea |
va |
| noi |
vom |
| voi |
veți |
| ei |
vor |
The verb infinitive for "to see" is "a vedea". The 'a' before the word is like the 'to' in english verb infinitves ("to see"). The 'a' may be ignored for now, all we need is voi + vedea. See the examples below.
Voi vedea filmul poimîine. I will see the movie the day after tomorrow.
Nelu va vedea luna plină. Nelu will see the full moon.
Va veni și Marta. Marta will come too.
Nelu și Lidia vor fi la biserică astăzi. Nelu and Lidia will be at church today.
Words in this Lesson
| biserică |
church |
| lună |
moon |
| film |
movie |
| apă minerală |
mineral water |
| munți |
mountains |
| prieten |
friend (male) |
|