The Future Continuous Tense
To express an ongoing action in the future (like "they will be anticipating" or "she will be heading"), Arabic uses the future tense of the verb "to be" plus an active participle.
The formula is:
- The future tense of "to be" (سيكون or سوف يكون), conjugated to match the subject.
- An active participle (اسم فاعل) describing the ongoing action.
Because the active participle is the predicate of كان (to be), it must be in the accusative case (منصوب):
- Masculine singular words add the ـا suffix (e.g., مترقبا).
- Feminine singular words ending in ـة do not change visually.
Notice how the verb matches the female subject (ستكون):
| Tomorrow morning, the voter will be heading to the polling station. | غدا صباحا، ستكون الناخبة متوجهة إلى مركز الاقتراع.ghadan sabâhan, satakûnu an-nâkhibatu mutawajjihatan ilâ markazi al-iqtirâ'i |
With a masculine singular subject, the active participle takes the accusative marker ـا:
| Will the supporter be anticipating the result in the legislative or the presidential elections? | هل سيكون المؤيد مترقبا للنتيجة في الانتخابات التشريعية أم الرئاسية؟hal sayakûnu al-mu'ayyidu mutaraqqiban lin-natîjati fî al-intikhâbâti at-tashrî'iyyati am ar-ri'âsiyyati? |
You can also use سوف يكون instead of سيكون for the exact same meaning:
| There is a large turnout, and every voter will be participating in the voting. | ثمة إقبال كبير، وسوف يكون كل مقترع مشاركا في التصويت.thammata iqbâlun kabîrun, wa sawfa yakûnu kullu muqtari'in mushârikan fi t-taswît |
Dual and Plural Subjects
For dual or plural subjects, both the verb "to be" and the active participle must match the subject in number. The accusative suffix for both the dual and the regular masculine plural is ـين.
Notice the dual verb (سيكونان) and the accusative dual active participle (مترقبين):
| Both candidates will be anticipating the result of the presidential elections. | المرشحان كلاهما سيكونان مترقبين لنتيجة الانتخابات الرئاسية.al-murashshahâni kilâhumâ sayakunâni mutaraqqibayni linatijati al-intikhâbâti ar-ri'âsiyyati |
Similarly, with a masculine plural subject, the active participle takes the accusative plural ending (متوجهين):
| The inspectors will be heading to every polling station. | سوف يكون المفتشون متوجهين إلى كل مركز اقتراع.sawfa yakûnu-l-mufattishûna mutawajjihîna ilâ kulli markazi-qtirâ' |
Seeing the endings
This course writes Arabic the way books and newspapers print it, without the short-vowel marks, so the ending this lesson is about is usually something you hear in the audio but cannot see in the drills. Here are some of them with every vowel written out:
| as written | fully vocalized | meaning |
|---|---|---|
| هل سيكون المؤيد مترقبا للنتيجة في الانتخابات التشريعية أم الرئاسية؟ | هَلْ سَيَكُونُ المُؤَيِّدُ مُتَرَقِّبًا لِلنَّتِيجَةِ فِي الِانْتِخَابَاتِ التَّشْرِيعِيَّةِ أَمِ الرِّئَاسِيَّةِ؟ | Will the supporter be anticipating the result in the legislative or the presidential elections? |
| غدا صباحا، ستكون الناخبة متوجهة إلى مركز الاقتراع. | غَدًا صَبَاحًا، سَتَكُونُ النَّاخِبَةُ مُتَوَجِّهَةً إِلَى مَرْكَزِ الِاقْتِرَاعِ. | Tomorrow morning, the voter will be heading to the polling station. |
| ثمة معارضة واحدة، لكنها ستكون مقترعة غدا. | ثَمَّةَ مُعَارِضَةٌ وَاحِدَةٌ، لَكِنَّهَا سَتَكُونُ مُقْتَرِعَةً غَدًا. | There is one opponent, but she will be voting tomorrow. |
After سيكون the active participle is accusative. On a masculine word you can see it as an alif: مُتَرَقِّبًا. On a word ending in ة it is only heard: مُتَوَجِّهَةً, مُقْتَرِعَةً. Compare مُعَارِضَةٌ وَاحِدَةٌ at the start of the last drill: with no كان in front, the ending is the nominative.
