Future with خواستن | Farsi Grammar

Persian has an explicit future built with خواهـ, the present stem of خواستن, followed by the main verb's bare past stem: خواهم رفت “I will go,” خواهد دید “she will see.” Traditional descriptions call the second element a “short infinitive”; in modern structural terms, it has exactly the same shape as the past stem obtained by removing final ن from the infinitive.

This future is fully grammatical but has a marked distribution. It is common (formal) in announcements, forecasts, promises, official plans, and edited prose. Everyday Iranian conversation usually expresses future time with a present form instead.

The construction map

Only خواهـ carries the personal ending. The following past stem is invariant:

Person	Future auxiliary	With رفت	Meaning
I	خواهم	خواهم رفت	I will go
you (singular)	خواهی	خواهی رفت	you will go
he/she/it	خواهد	خواهد رفت	he/she will go
we	خواهیم	خواهیم رفت	we will go
you (plural/polite)	خواهید	خواهید رفت	you will go
they	خواهند	خواهند رفت	they will go

گزارش کامل فردا منتشر خواهد شد.

gozâresh-e kâmel fardâ montasher khâhad shod.

The full report will be published tomorrow. (formal announcement)

در پایان نشست به پرسش‌ها پاسخ خواهیم داد.

dar pâyân-e neshast be porsesh-hâ pâsokh khâhim dâd.

At the end of the meeting, we will answer questions. (formal presentation)

این تصمیم بر زندگی هزاران نفر اثر خواهد گذاشت.

in tasmim bar zendegi-ye hezârân nafar asar khâhad gozâsht.

This decision will affect the lives of thousands of people. (formal analytical prose)

The auxiliary precedes the main past stem, but other clause material normally comes before this two-part verbal complex. Persian remains verb-final: objects and complements do not move after رفت، داد، شد merely because a future auxiliary is present.

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Find the two lexical entries before building the form: خواستن → خواه supplies the inflected auxiliary; the main infinitive supplies its past stem. Then add the person ending only to خواه.

The main element is a bare past stem

The main verb has no personal ending and no می‌. Compare خواندن → خواند, کردن → کرد, and آمدن → آمد:

نتایج آزمایش هفته‌ی آینده آماده خواهد شد.

natâyej-e âzmâyesh hafte-ye âyande âmâde khâhad shod.

The test results will be ready next week. (formal-neutral)

پس از ثبت‌نام، یک پیام تأیید دریافت خواهید کرد.

pas az sabt-nâm, yek payâm-e ta'yid daryâft khâhid kard.

After registering, you will receive a confirmation message. (formal instruction; polite/plural شما)

English will is followed by a bare infinitive, but Persian does not use its dictionary infinitive کردن here. It uses کرد, the short form. That resemblance in terminology is a frequent source of transfer errors.

Negation belongs on خواهـ

Add نـ to the future auxiliary: نخواهم، نخواهی، نخواهد، نخواهیم، نخواهید، نخواهند. The main past stem remains affirmative in shape.

Affirmative	Negative	Not this
خواهم گفت	نخواهم گفت	خواهم نگفت
خواهد آمد	نخواهد آمد	نمی‌خواهد آمد
خواهند پذیرفت	نخواهند پذیرفت	خواهند نپذیرفت

بدون کارت شناسایی اجازه‌ی ورود نخواهید داشت.

bedun-e kârt-e shenâsâyi ejâze-ye vorud na-khâhid dâsht.

Without identification, you will not have permission to enter. (formal notice)

سامانه تا پایان تعمیرات در دسترس نخواهد بود.

sâmâne tâ pâyân-e ta'mirât dar dastres na-khâhad bud.

The system will not be available until the repairs are complete. (formal service notice)

Do not confuse نخواهد آمد “will not come” with نمی‌خواهد بیاید “does not want to come.” The first has future auxiliary نخواهد plus past stem آمد; the second has lexical خواستن in the present plus subjunctive بیاید.

Compound predicates

In a compound predicate, the nonverbal element stays before the auxiliary and the light verb appears as a bare past stem after it: بررسی خواهد کرد، تصمیم خواهد گرفت، آغاز خواهد شد. The auxiliary interrupts the lexical unit on the surface, but the noun or adjective and the light verb still form one predicate semantically.

کمیته هفته‌ی بعد پیشنهادها را بررسی خواهد کرد.

komite hafte-ye ba'd pishnehâd-hâ râ barrasi khâhad kard.

The committee will review the proposals next week. (formal institutional prose)

مرحله‌ی دوم طرح در زمستان آغاز خواهد شد.

marhale-ye dovvom-e tarh dar zemestân âghâz khâhad shod.

The second phase of the project will begin in winter. (formal announcement)

Negation remains on the inserted auxiliary: بررسی نخواهد کرد, never on the nonverbal element. More extensive light-verb architecture belongs on Compound Verbs in Past Tenses.

Register: grammatical does not mean conversationally neutral

In ordinary conversation, an explicit future often sounds bureaucratic, solemn, or written. A personal arrangement normally uses the futurate present:

— فردا کی برمی‌گردی؟ — بعد از ناهار برمی‌گردم.

— fardâ key bar-mi-gardi? — ba'd az nâhâr bar-mi-gardam.

— When are you coming back tomorrow? — After lunch. (careful spoken standard; natural conversational future)

By contrast, پس از ناهار بازخواهم گشت is possible (formal/literary) but would be unusually elevated as a routine answer. Forms such as خواهد شد remain audible in news, presentations, and careful public speech; the construction is not obsolete.

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Do not equate “future meaning” with “future morphology.” Use this construction when an explicit formal future suits the genre; use a present form for most personal plans and everyday predictions.

Common Mistakes

1. Leaving the main verb as an infinitive

❌ فردا نتیجه را خواهم گفتن.

Incorrect — the future takes the bare past stem گفت, not infinitive گفتن.

✅ نتیجه را در جلسه‌ی فردا خواهم گفت.

natije râ dar jalase-ye fardâ khâham goft.

I will state the result at tomorrow's meeting. (formal)

2. Giving both verbs a personal ending

❌ ما تا غروب خواهیم رسیدیم.

Incorrect — person is marked on خواهیم only; the main element is bare رسید.

✅ با این سرعت تا غروب خواهیم رسید.

bâ in sor'at tâ ghorub khâhim resid.

At this speed, we will arrive by sunset. (formal-neutral prediction)

3. Putting می‌ on the main verb

❌ شرکت قیمت‌ها را خواهد افزایش می‌داد.

Incorrect for a simple future — the main verb must be its bare past stem.

✅ شرکت قیمت خدمات را افزایش خواهد داد.

sherkat qeymat-e khadamât râ afzâyesh khâhad dâd.

The company will increase the price of its services. (formal)

4. Negating the main past stem

❌ او این پیشنهاد را خواهد نپذیرفت.

Incorrect in the standard future construction — negation attaches to خواهد.

✅ او بدون تضمین این پیشنهاد را نخواهد پذیرفت.

u bedun-e tazmin in pishnehâd râ na-khâhad paziroft.

She will not accept this proposal without a guarantee. (formal)

Key Takeaways

Inflect خواهـ for person and follow it with the main verb's bare past stem.
The main stem takes no ending, می‌, or negative prefix.
Negation is نـ + خواه + ending + past stem.
In compound predicates, the nonverbal element precedes the auxiliary: بررسی خواهد کرد.
The explicit future is productive but mainly formal; conversational Persian normally prefers a present construction.

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