Urban Lebanese uses invariant رحraḥ plus a bare imperfect to frame a situation as future: رح اكتب “I'll write,” رح تكتبي “you'll write” to a woman, and رح يكتبوا “they'll write.” رح does not conjugate; the following verb carries person, gender, and number.
This is the safest general-purpose future construction, but it is not a perfect equivalent of English will. It can express prediction, intention, or a plan, while schedules and arranged motion often use other forms. Compare those choices in Future Alternatives.
Focused paradigm with كتب
Remove the ordinary b-marker from the imperfect but keep its person prefix and feminine/plural suffix.
| Subject | Future | Reading |
|---|---|---|
| أنا | رح اكتب | raḥ iktob |
| إنت | رح تكتب | raḥ tiktob |
| إنتي | رح تكتبي | raḥ tiktbe |
| هو | رح يكتب | raḥ yiktob |
| هي | رح تكتب | raḥ tiktob |
| نحنا | رح نكتب | raḥ niktob |
| إنتو | رح تكتبوا | raḥ tiktbo |
| هني | رح يكتبوا | raḥ yiktbo |
رح اكتبلك العنوان عالواتساب.
raḥ iktoblak el-ʿonwēn ʿal-Wātsāb.
I'll send you the address on WhatsApp. (informal; first-person intention)
إنتي رح تكتبي المحضر، صح؟
inte raḥ tiktbe l-maḥḍar, ṣaḥḥ?
You'll write the minutes, right? (professional dialogue; one female addressee)
هني رح يكتبوا التقرير سوا.
hinne raḥ yiktbo t-taʾrīr sawa.
They'll write the report together. (neutral)
Prediction from evidence or belief
رح can present what the speaker expects to happen, whether the prediction comes from visible evidence or general judgment.
الغيم أسود؛ رح تشتي بعد شوي.
el-ghaym aswad; raḥ tishte baʿd shwayy.
The clouds are dark; it's going to rain soon. (informal; evidence-based prediction)
برأيي رح يربح الفريق الأزرق.
b-raʾye raḥ yirbaḥ el-farīʾ el-azraʾ.
In my opinion, the blue team will win. (informal; prediction)
English distinguishes will and be going to imperfectly; Lebanese رح overlaps both. Context indicates whether the basis is evidence, commitment, or neutral forecast.
Intention and speaker commitment
With a controllable first-person action, رح commonly announces an intention or commitment.
رح احكي مع المدير اليوم.
raḥ iḥke maʿ el-mdīr el-yōm.
I'll speak with the manager today. (informal; intention/commitment)
رح نخلص الشغل قبل الجمعة.
raḥ nkhalliṣ esh-shoghl ʾabel el-zhomʿa.
We'll finish the work before Friday. (neutral; commitment)
The same sentence can be a promise, plan, or confident forecast depending on intonation and context. رح supplies prospective viewpoint, not a separate promise mood.
Planned future and questions
In questions, رح asks about an expected plan or future fact. There is no English-style subject-auxiliary inversion.
رح تجي معنا بكرا؟
raḥ tzhe maʿna bokra?
Will you come with us tomorrow? (informal; addressed to one man)
وين رح تقعدوا بالحفلة؟
wēn raḥ tiʾʿdo bil-ḥafle?
Where will you all sit at the party? (informal; plural addressees)
The question word stays where Lebanese syntax places it, and the following bare verb still marks the addressee.
Person-invariant رح
Do not attach pronoun suffixes to رح or conjugate it like the motion verb راح “went.” Its historical source is less important than its present grammatical behavior: one particle before every person.
أنا رح روح، وهي رح تضل هون.
ana raḥ rūḥ, w-hiyye raḥ tḍall hōn.
I'll go, and she'll stay here. (informal; invariant particle, different bare verbs)
The first-person روح and feminine تضل carry agreement. رح remains unchanged.
Negation: ما رح
Place ما before رح to deny or reject the future predication. The lower verb remains bare.
رح روح عالاجتماع.
raḥ rūḥ ʿal-izhtimēʿ.
I'll go to the meeting. (affirmative future)
ما رح روح عالاجتماع.
ma raḥ rūḥ ʿal-izhtimēʿ.
I won't go to the meeting. (negative future)
رح يتأخر الباص.
raḥ yitʾakhkhar el-bāṣ.
The bus will be late. (affirmative prediction)
ما رح يتأخر الباص اليوم.
ma raḥ yitʾakhkhar el-bāṣ el-yōm.
The bus won't be late today. (negative prediction)
Negating with مش is possible when contradicting an entire quoted proposition or focus, but neutral verbal future negation is ما رح.
رح selects the bare imperfect
Compare habitual بيروح with future رح يروح. The ordinary b-marker does not survive after رح.
بيروح عالمكتب كل يوم.
byirūḥ ʿal-maktab kill yōm.
He goes to the office every day. (habitual b-imperfect)
رح يروح عالمكتب بكرا.
raḥ yrūḥ ʿal-maktab bokra.
He'll go to the office tomorrow. (future plus bare imperfect)
Do not interpret “bare” as an infinitive. يروح still agrees with a third-person masculine subject.
Pronunciation and regional variants
The production baseline is رحraḥ. Many Lebanese speakers use لحlaḥ (regional/social variation: Lebanon), and reduced حـ or related future markers occur elsewhere in the Levant (regional: Palestinian, Jordanian, and some Syrian varieties). These variants may select the same bare imperfect but index a speaker and community; do not alternate them randomly inside one learner voice.
In fast speech, raḥ may be short and tightly linked prosodically to the verb, but it remains a separate particle in ordinary spelling: رح اكتب, not a fused MSA-style prefix.
لح شوفك بكرا.
laḥ shūfak bokra.
I'll see you tomorrow. (regional/social Lebanese variant for recognition; production baseline رح شوفك)
Time adverbs and schedules
رح does not itself say how soon. Add هلق، بعد شوي، بكرا، الأسبوع الجايي as needed. Scheduled events can instead use a b-imperfect: الاجتماع بيبلش عالتسعة بكرا “the meeting starts at nine tomorrow.”
رح نلتقي الأسبوع الجاي.
raḥ niltiʾe l-osbūʿ el-zhāyy.
We'll meet next week. (neutral future plan)
الطيارة بتوصل عالسبعة بكرا.
eṭ-ṭayyāra btūṣal ʿas-sabʿa bokra.
The plane arrives at seven tomorrow. (schedule with b-imperfect, not رح)
The future time phrase licenses the schedule reading. رح يوصل would sound more like a prediction or prospective assertion.
Weak and geminate verbs remain lexical
Removing b- does not regularize the stem: بياكل → ياكل, بينام → ينام, بيحب → يحب.
رح ياكل وبعدين رح ينام.
raḥ yākol w-baʿdēn raḥ ynēm.
He'll eat and then he'll sleep. (informal; hamzated and hollow stems)
Learn the bare form from verified principal parts, not from an MSA paradigm or root guess.
Dialogue: plan versus prediction
شو رح تعمل إذا شتت بكرا؟
shū raḥ tiʿmal iza shittet bokra?
Maya: What will you do if it rains tomorrow? (informal dialogue)
رح ضل بالبيت. وبرأيي أكيد رح تشتي.
raḥ ḍall bil-bēt. w-b-raʾye akīd raḥ tishte.
Jad: I'll stay home. And in my opinion, it's definitely going to rain. (informal; intention then prediction)
The same marker supports two readings because the first subject controls an action and the second clause forecasts weather.
Common Mistakes
Keeping b- after رح
❌ رح بيروح عالمكتب.
Incorrect in the Beirut baseline — رح selects the bare imperfect.
✅ رح يروح عالمكتب.
raḥ yrūḥ ʿal-maktab.
He'll go to the office.
Removing person agreement with b-
❌ رح روح هني بكرا.
Incorrect — plural هني requires يروحوا; only the outer b-marker is absent.
✅ هني رح يروحوا بكرا.
hinne raḥ yrūḥo bokra.
They'll go tomorrow.
Conjugating رح
❌ رحنا نكتب بكرا.
Incorrect for ‘we'll write tomorrow’ — رحنا is the perfect ‘we went’; future رح is invariant.
✅ نحنا رح نكتب بكرا.
niḥna raḥ niktob bokra.
We'll write tomorrow.
Negating the future with مش alone
❌ مش رح اكتب التقرير.
Non-neutral for ordinary verbal negation — use ما رح unless correcting a focused proposition.
✅ ما رح اكتب الإيميل الليلة.
ma raḥ iktob el-īmēl el-lēle.
I won't write the email tonight.
Regularizing a weak verb
❌ رح ينوم بكير.
Incorrect — the verified bare imperfect of نام is ينام.
✅ رح ينام بكير.
raḥ ynēm bkīr.
He'll sleep early.
Key Takeaways
Invariant رح combines with a fully agreeing bare imperfect for predictions, intentions, plans, and commitments. Negate it with ما رح, keep all person and number marking on the verb, and remove the ordinary b-marker only. Use رح consistently for course production while recognizing Lebanese لح and other labeled regional future markers.
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- The Bare Imperfect after Modals and ParticlesA2 — Use fully agreeing imperfect verbs without b- after Lebanese modal, future, and command environments.
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- About-To and Imminent ConstructionsB1 — Express events poised to happen with بدّو, prospective رايح, قرّب, and near-future time expressions in urban Lebanese.
- رح: Future MarkerA1 — Use invariant رح with an agreeing bare imperfect for Lebanese predictions, intentions, plans, questions, and negated futures.
- Negating رح FuturesA2 — Build negative Lebanese predictions, intentions, and refusals with ما رح followed by an agreeing bare imperfect.