As we’ve already mentioned in our previous posts devoted to Russian Tenses studying – the Russian language is divided into 3 tenses: Present Tense, Past Tense and Future Tense which we are going to explain today.
The Future Tense is the 3rd tense and denotes that the action, meant by the verb, will take place in the future; in other words – after the moment of speaking.
There are 2 forms of Future Tense in Russian. Those are SIMPLE and COMPOUND forms.
Simple Form (also called Perfective)
It consists of Perfective verb form and personal endings. See the following formula:
| Simple form / Perfective | Personal pronoun + perfective verb form with a personal ending (accordingly to the personal pronoun in the sentence) |
| Example | I will finish it by 18:00 or I will have finished it by 18:00 – Я закончу это до 18:00.
Where “Я” is a personal pronoun and “закончу” perfective verb form with a personal ending |
Conjugation of Perfective verb form in Future Tense:
| Personal pronoun | Ending | Russian example | English example |
| Я – I | у / ю | Я сделаю Я посмотрю | I will do I will watch |
| Ты – You | ешь / ишь | Ты сделаешь Ты посмотришь | You will do You will watch |
| Вы – Youformal | ете / ите | Вы сделаете Вы посмотрите | You will do You will watch |
| Мы – We | ем / им | Мы сделаем Мы посмотрим | We will do We will watch |
| Он/Она/Оно – He/She/It | ет / ит | Он сделает Он посмотрит | He will do He will watch |
| Они – They | ют / ат / ят | Они сделают Они посмотрят | They will do They will watch |
Perfective form is used to:
– describe an action that will be in the future with an emphasis on its completion, result or limit.
Мы сделаем эту работу завтра в 7 часов вечера. – We will do (complete) this work at 7 pm.
– express brief actions in the future.
После этого, ты поцелуешь её в щёку. – After that, you will kiss her cheek.
Compound Form (also called Imperfective)
It consists of the conjugated verb “to be – быть” and an infinitive verb. The structure of the English simple future is similar to the Russian compound future tense. See the following formula:
| Compound form / Imperfective | Personal pronoun + Conjugated verb “to be – быть” (accordingly to the personal pronoun in the sentence) + Infinitive verb |
| Example | I will be working till 18:00 or I will be working till 18:00 – Я буду работать это до 18:00.
Where “Я” is a personal pronoun, “буду” is a conjugated verb (to be) and “работать” is an infinitive verb. |
The conjugation of the verb “to be – быть” with examples:
Я буду пить кофе – I will drink coffee.
Ты будешь пить кофе – You will drink coffee.
Он (Она; Оно) будет пить кофе – He (She; it) will drink coffee.
Мы будем пить кофе – We will drink coffee.
Вы будете пить кофе – You will drink coffee. (plural or formal)
Они будут пить кофе – They will drink coffee.
Imperfective form is used to:
– tell about the action in future, without consideration on its completion.
Вы будете делать эту работу завтра. – You will do this work tomorrow.
– denote an action in progress that will be at some moment in the future.
Завтра, в это же время, мы будем ехать домой на поезде. – We will be going home by train at the same moment tomorrow.
– indicate repeated actions in the future.
Он будет отправлять ей письма каждую неделю. – He will send her letters every week.
Do you still have questions of how to use Future Tense in the Russian language? Or if you consider the idea to practice Future Tense with a qualified Russian teacher, then you are welcome to visit our Skype lessons page. Please, press on the following button for more information about Private Skype classes:
