Korean Conjugation; Master Korean Future Tense

Mastering Korean future tense, along with the other tenses, is one of the first things you probably really want to get into when you’re starting out with Korean! After all, it can take your sentences from very basic to more fully communicating and expressing yourself. Luckily it isn’t that hard to get started with the future tense ~ㄹ/을 거예요 and speaking about the future.

 

~ㄹ/을 거예요 Korean Future Tense Rules

The rules are really simple! Like other particles you may have reviewed and studied, such as 을/를, the beginning is determined by the verb before and if it’s a consonant or vowel.

When the verb (without the dictionary 다 added at the end; so just 가 for 가다 for example) ends with a vowel then you add ~ㄹ 거예요; so 갈 거예요. Meanwhile, when it ends with a consonant you add ~을 거예요 at the end. Let’s get into some quick examples:

 

Ending in a vowel:

가다: to go
갈 거예요: going to go
만나다: to meet
만날 거예요: going to meet
공부하다: to study
공부할 거예요: going to study

 

Ending in a consonant:

입다: to wear
입을 거예요: going to wear
먹다: to eat
먹을 거예요: going to eat

 

One last thing; if the verb already ends with a ㄹ, skip adding ~ㄹ/을 and just add -거예요. So here are some examples of that:

살다: to live
살 거예요: going to live
팔다: to sell
팔 거예요: going to sell
놀다: to play
놀 거예요: going to play

 

So now here are some quick example sentences to help you get a feel for how to use Korean future tense!

언니는 꼭 열심히 공부할 거예요: My older sister will study really hard
다음 주말에 뭐 할 거예요?: What are you going to do next weekend?
금요일에 쇼핑할 거예요: I’m going shopping on Friday
친구 집에서 놀 거예요: I’m going to play/hangout at my friends’ house
프랑켄슈타인은 괴물의 살 거예요!: Frankenstein’s monster will live!

 

~ㄹ/을 거예요 VS ~ㄹ/을게요

Another option for Korean future tense is ~ㄹ/을게요 which has a more specific meaning. This particle has the feeling like you are checking if something is okay with the listener without outright making it a question. ~ㄹ/을게요 is used more when you want to be less blunt, it could be directly involved with the listener or not but it must be in first person with you doing the action.

Kind of like this:

금요일에 쇼핑할 거예요: I’m going shopping on Friday
금요일에 쇼핑할게요: I’ll go shopping on Friday (if that’s okay)

 

Here are some more examples using ~ㄹ/을게요:

이제 밥을 먹을게요: I will eat now
제가 식료품을 가져올게요: I will get the groceries
나중에 전화 할게요: I will call you later

 

One common use is putting ~ㄹ/을게요 with 그렇다 (correct/that’s right) to make 그럴게요 which gives a softer agreement; kind of like “Okay, I’ll do that” or “I’ll do it if you want”.