The prospective construction -ने वाला + copula presents an event as lying just ahead of a reference point: ट्रेन चलने वाली है “the train is about to leave,” हम निकलने वाले थे “we were about to leave.” It can express visible imminence, a settled intention, or an arranged development. Its central meaning is not simply “future”; it locates the subject at a pre-event stage from which the event is expected to follow.
For basic form-building, see prospective future with वाला. Here the focus is viewpoint, time, agreement, and discourse.
The event is future relative to a reference point
Build the construction with oblique infinitive -ने + वाला/वाली/वाले + finite होना. The copula locates the prospective state; it does not locate the event independently.
| Form | Reference point | Event relation |
|---|---|---|
| निकलने वाला है | NOW | NOW → departure |
| निकलने वाला था | PAST | PAST → intended/imminent departure |
| निकलने वाला होगा | future or inferred reference point | reference point → departure |
डाकिया अब हमारी गली में आने वाला है।
ḍākiyā ab hamārī galī meṃ āne vālā hai.
The mail carrier is about to come into our lane.
हम घर से निकलने वाले थे कि बिजली चली गई।
ham ghar se nikalne vāle the ki bijlī calī gaī.
We were about to leave home when the power went out. (male or mixed group)
अगले मोड़ पर सड़क सँकरी होने वाली है।
agle moṛ par saṛak sãkrī hone vālī hai.
The road is going to become narrow at the next turn.
Past थे places the state of readiness before a past event. It often supports an “interrupted plan” inference, but non-occurrence is not encoded by the construction itself. मैं जाने वाला था, और गया भी “I was going to go, and I did” is not contradictory.
Prospective versus simple future
The simple future predicts or commits to an event. The prospective presents evidence, readiness, or a settled course already leading toward it.
बस पाँच मिनट में निकलेगी।
bas pā̃c minaṭ meṃ niklegī.
The bus will leave in five minutes. (schedule or prediction)
बस अब निकलने वाली है; जल्दी बैठिए।
bas ab nikalne vālī hai; jaldī baiṭhie.
The bus is about to leave now; please sit down quickly.
This minimal pair keeps the departure constant. निकलेगी looks forward from speech time. निकलने वाली है places the bus at the brink of departure and makes the present warning relevant.
लगता है यह पुरानी दीवार गिरने वाली है।
lagtā hai yah purānī dīvār girne vālī hai.
It looks as though this old wall is about to fall.
The wall has no intention. Visible evidence licenses the prospective. By contrast, an animate subject can supply intention:
अमन इस महीने अपनी नौकरी छोड़ने वाला है।
aman is mahīne apnī naukrī choṛne vālā hai.
Aman is going to leave his job this month.
This may describe a settled plan rather than an event seconds away. English be going to overlaps substantially, but Hindi explicitly marks gender-number on वाला and person-number on the copula.
Agreement follows the prospective subject
वाला agrees with the grammatical subject, not with the infinitive's object. The present copula also matches person and honorific number.
| Subject | Prospective form |
|---|---|
| अमन | नई कार खरीदने वाला है |
| नैना | नया फ़ोन खरीदने वाली है |
| वे छात्र | आवेदन भेजने वाले हैं |
| वे छात्राएँ | आवेदन भेजने वाली हैं |
| आप, respectful masculine | बोलने वाले हैं |
| आप, respectful feminine | बोलने वाली हैं |
नैना नया फ़ोन खरीदने वाली है।
nainā nayā fon xarīdne vālī hai.
Naina is going to buy a new phone.
वे छात्राएँ कल आवेदन भेजने वाली हैं।
ve chātrāẽ kal āvedan bhejne vālī haiṃ.
Those female students are going to send the application tomorrow.
क्या आप सम्मेलन में बोलने वाले हैं?
kyā āp sammelan meṃ bolne vāle haiṃ?
Are you going to speak at the conference? (respectful, male addressee)
The object does not trigger perfective ergativity because the prospective is not a perfective transitive clause. There is no ने after the agent: अमन कार खरीदने वाला है, not अमन ने ... वाला है.
Feminine plural predicative agreement is वाली हैं, not nominal वालियाँ हैं. वालियाँ can be a plural noun (“the female ones”), but it is not the ordinary predicative form here.
Negation does more than reverse a forecast
Neutral negation places नहीं before the copula: वाली नहीं है. With an inanimate event, this denies imminence. With an intentional human subject, it can reject a plan or sound like a firm refusal.
बैठक अभी शुरू होने वाली नहीं है।
baiṭhak abhī śurū hone vālī nahīṃ hai.
The meeting is not about to start yet.
मैं दबाव में अपना फ़ैसला बदलने वाला नहीं हूँ।
maĩ dabāv meṃ apnā faislā badalne vālā nahīṃ hū̃.
I am not going to change my decision under pressure. (male speaker)
The second is common in emphatic conversation (informal) and public argument; it is stronger than a neutral prediction मैं फ़ैसला नहीं बदलूँगा in many contexts because it rejects the entire proposed course of action.
Questions test whether the pre-event conditions hold:
क्या बारिश होने वाली है?
kyā bāriś hone vālī hai?
Is it about to rain?
This differs from क्या बारिश होगी? “Will it rain?” The latter asks for a forecast; the prospective question asks whether rain now appears imminent.
Prospectivity is not progressive aspect
Both constructions can involve a current situation, but their viewpoints differ. The progressive opens the event after it has begun; the prospective stops just before it.
फ़िल्म शुरू होने वाली है।
film śurū hone vālī hai.
The film is about to start.
फ़िल्म शुरू हो रही है।
film śurū ho rahī hai.
The film is starting.
फ़िल्म शुरू हो गई है।
film śurū ho gaī hai.
The film has started.
The three forms trace a sequence: before the boundary, crossing the boundary, and the completed change with a current result. No English tense label captures the whole contrast. Hindi aspect organizes the event, while है merely anchors each different layer to now.
Attributive वाला is related but not always prospective
Before a noun, -ने वाला may simply identify a habitual performer or a future participant: दूध लाने वाला लड़का can mean “the boy who brings milk” or “the boy who is going to bring milk.” Context and the main predicate decide. In लड़का दूध लाने वाला है, however, predicative है strongly supports a prospective reading.
कल प्रस्तुति देने वाली विशेषज्ञ अभी पहुँची हैं।
kal prastuti dene vālī viśeṣagya abhī pahũcī haiṃ.
The female expert who is to give tomorrow's presentation has just arrived. (respectful reference)
Here देने वाली modifies विशेषज्ञ; पहुँची हैं is the main predicate. Do not mistake every attributive वाला phrase for the finite prospective construction.
A short narrative: approaching, unfolding, complete
दोपहर में हवा तेज़ हो रही थी और आसमान लगातार काला पड़ रहा था।
dopahar meṃ havā tez ho rahī thī aur āsmān lagātār kālā paṛ rahā thā.
In the afternoon the wind was getting stronger and the sky was steadily darkening.
लगा कि तेज़ बारिश होने वाली है, इसलिए दुकानदार सामान अंदर रखने लगे।
lagā ki tez bāriś hone vālī hai, islie dukāndār sāmān andar rakhne lage.
It seemed that heavy rain was about to start, so the shopkeepers began moving the goods inside.
कुछ ही मिनटों में बारिश शुरू हो गई और सड़कें खाली हो गईं।
kuch hī minaṭoṃ meṃ bāriś śurū ho gaī aur saṛkeṃ khālī ho gaī̃.
Within a few minutes the rain started and the streets emptied.
The progressive supplies developing evidence, the prospective interprets the next boundary, and the perfectives advance the story once that boundary is crossed. The shift is about event viewpoint, not three arbitrary synonyms for past or future.
Common Mistakes
❌ अमन नई कार खरीदना वाला है।
Incorrect — वाला requires the oblique infinitive खरीदने.
✅ अमन नई कार खरीदने वाला है।
aman naī kār xarīdne vālā hai.
Aman is going to buy a new car.
❌ सुजाता नया लैपटॉप खरीदने वाला है।
Incorrect — वाला agrees with feminine subject सुजाता, not masculine object लैपटॉप.
✅ सुजाता नया लैपटॉप खरीदने वाली है।
sujātā nayā laipaṭop xarīdne vālī hai.
Sujata is going to buy a new laptop.
❌ वे छात्राएँ आवेदन भेजने वालियाँ हैं।
Incorrect in the ordinary predicate — use feminine वाली with plural हैं, not nominal वालियाँ.
✅ वे छात्राएँ आवेदन भेजने वाली हैं।
ve chātrāẽ āvedan bhejne vālī haiṃ.
Those female students are going to send the application.
❌ अमन ने बाहर जाने वाला है।
Incorrect — a prospective subject is unmarked; ने belongs to canonical transitive perfectives.
✅ अमन बाहर जाने वाला है।
aman bāhar jāne vālā hai.
Aman is about to go out.
❌ फ़िल्म शुरू होने वाली है कल हुई।
Incorrect stacking — present prospective है and past perfective हुई cannot jointly close one predicate this way.
✅ फ़िल्म कल शुरू हुई।
film kal śurū huī.
The film started yesterday.
Key Takeaways
The prospective construction locates an event after a present or past reference point. -ने is an oblique infinitive ending here, not the ergative postposition; वाला agrees with the prospective subject, and the copula anchors the pre-event state. Present prospective can mark imminence, evidence, or settled intention; past prospective often introduces an interrupted plan without entailing failure. Its viewpoint is distinct from both simple future prediction and progressive onset.
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- Prospective future with वालाB1 — Use oblique infinitive plus agreeing वाला and a copula to describe actions that are imminent, intended, or already developing.
- Immediate future with अभी and present formsB1 — Use अभी with Hindi present-form predicates for immediate intentions and responses while distinguishing routine, ongoing, and ordinary future readings.
- Future tense versus probabilityB1 — Decide whether Hindi future morphology locates an event later or marks an inference about a present, habitual, ongoing, or completed situation.
- Predictive versus volitional futureA2 — Distinguish Hindi future forms that forecast an event from those that express intention, willingness, offers, promises, or refusal.
- Oblique infinitive -neA2 — Recognize and form the Hindi oblique infinitive in -ने before postpositions and in purpose, onset, and related non-finite constructions.
- Semantic adjective pairs with वालाC1 — Distinguish a bare adjective from its वाला counterpart and track the agreement, contrast, and association meanings that वाला adds.