The Imperfective Future Tense
To talk about ongoing actions, habits, or routines in the future, Polish uses the imperfective future tense.
This is formed by combining the future tense of być (to be) with the L-participle of an imperfective verb. The L-participle is identical to the verb's third-person past tense form.
Here are the future tense forms of być:
| Pronoun | Form of "być" |
|---|
| ja (I) | będę |
| ty (you) | będziesz |
| on/ona/ono (he/she/it) | będzie |
| my (we) | będziemy |
| wy (you pl.) | będziecie |
| oni/one (they) | będą |
In the singular, the L-participle matches the gender of the subject: masculine (-ł), feminine (-ła), or neuter (-ło).
When a sentence involves multiple people doing ongoing actions, the L-participles change to match each person's gender.
In the plural, the L-participle distinguishes between masculine personal groups (which include at least one man) and non-masculine groups (women, children, animals, and objects).
- Masculine personal uses the ending -li.
- Non-masculine uses the ending -ły.
Negation and Questions
To make a negative statement, simply place nie before the conjugated form of być.
To ask a yes/no question about future plans or habits, start the sentence with czy.
