Future in the past (-(y)Acaktı)

Future in the Past: -(y)Acaktı

To talk about unfulfilled intentions—things you were going to do before plans changed—you can combine the future tense and the past tense.

To build this form, attach the future suffix -acak or -ecek to the verb root, followed by the past tense suffix and a personal ending. Because the future suffix always ends in the hard consonant k, the past suffix will always assimilate to its hard forms: -tı or -ti.

For example, with almak (to buy) and the "I" ending (-m), we get alacaktım (I was going to buy):

Expressing Ruined Plans

This grammar is very often used with ama (but) to explain what you intended to do before unexpected events (like bad weather) got in the way. To talk about what "we" were going to do, add the ending -k:

Verbs Ending in a Vowel

If the verb root ends in a vowel, insert the buffer letter y before the future suffix, making it -yacak or -yecek.

For example, planlamak (to plan) ends in a vowel, so adding the suffix and the "we" ending gives us planlayacaktık (we were going to plan):

Consonant Mutation

Just like in the regular future tense, if a verb root ends in t (such as gitmek, to go), the t softens to a d when you add the vowel of the future suffix:

Asking About Intentions

You can also use this form to ask about other people's interrupted plans. To ask what "you" (plural or formal) were going to do, use the personal ending -nız or -niz: