TeacherJoy

Have you noticed I’ve never covered the “future tense” until now?
There’s a reason for that. I needed to build up your knowledge first!

Now that we’ve covered all the pre-noun forming endings,
you’re finally ready for the truth about the future tense.

What is “future”? The dictionary says it’s “time yet to come.”
But honestly, the future isn’t a guaranteed reality–it’s just a concept we’ve named.

Because the future hasn’t happened yet, it’s often an expression of will or intention.
Think about English: the noun “will” literally means “volition” or “mind.”

In Korean, the most common “future” pattern you learn is “-ㄹ/-을 거예요” as in “집에 갈 거예요.”
But strictly speaking, this isn’t a single tense marker.
It’s just a grammar pattern combining the pre-noun forming ending ‘-ㄹ/-을’ and the dependent noun ‘거.’

In English, you use modal verbs like will, may, might, or would to show different levels of probability.
In Korean, we usually keep the verb as “갈 거예요” and simply add an adverb in front to change the nuance.

• 꼭 갈 거예요. (I will definitely go.)
• 아마도 갈 거예요. (I might/probably will go.)

If you want to sound more specific, instead of using the vague noun “거”, you can go like:

• 갈 생각이에요. (I’m thinking of going.)
• 갈 계획이에요. (I’m planning to go.)

In fact, most of the sentence-closing endings you’ll learn–the ones related to uncertainty, possibilities, or your own will–evolved from this very same ‘-ㄹ/-을.’

Over time, they became grammaticalized into the modern Korean we use today.
For example, endings like ‘-을게’ and ‘-을까’ all share this same root.

So… does “갈 거예요” still sound like a simple future tense to you?
If you’re confused, watch my pre-noun series again!