Futur I
Overview
Futur I (the everyday future) describes anything that will happen - from tomorrow's plans to habitual predictions. It reuses a verb you already half-know: хтети (to want), the same way perfekat reuses бити. It has short (enclitic), long (stressed) and negative forms, mirroring the three-way split you already learned for бити in verb-biti-present-a1.
The short forms combine with the main verb's infinitive to build the future; the long forms stand alone for to want and for yes/no questions; the negative forms are a single fused word, just like нисам.
Short (enclitic) hteti forms and the fused future
When the infinitive immediately precedes the auxiliary, they fuse into a single written word: drop the whole infinitive ending -ти and attach the short хтети ending - радити + ћу becomes радићу. This is the default way to write the future.
If the auxiliary comes first instead, the infinitive stays separate and in its full form: „Ја ћу радити сутра.“ is just as correct as „Радићу сутра.“ - pick one order per sentence and don't mix the two.
Long (stressed) hteti forms - questions and to want
хтети also has a long form - хоћу, хоћеш, хоће, хоћемо, хоћете, хоће - used on its own to mean to want and combined with the question particle ли for yes/no future questions, exactly like бити's јеси ли.
Negation
The negative present of хтети fuses не directly onto the auxiliary, exactly like нисам: нећу, нећеш, неће, нећемо, нећете, неће. The infinitive that follows always stays in its full, unfused form: „Нећу радити.“
Нећу alone also means I don't want, just as хоћу alone means I want - context tells the two readings apart.
Tables
| Person | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | ću | ćemo |
| 2. | ćeš | ćete |
| 3. | će | će |
Examples
Compared with…
English's will + bare infinitive is the closest structural match to Serbian's unfused order (ћу + infinitive → will + infinitive), so that pattern should feel immediately familiar. What has no English equivalent at all is the fused, single-word alternative (читаћу), since English never welds an auxiliary onto the following verb.
Common mistakes
Tips & exceptions
- Both word orders are correct: the fused „infinitive stem + ћу/ћеш/ће…“ when the infinitive comes first, or ћу/ћеш/ће… + full infinitive when the auxiliary comes first - pick whichever order fits your sentence, just don't mix them.
- The long forms (хоћу, хоћеш…) double as to want - check the context to know whether you're looking at a future tense or a wish.
- Negative future is always one fused word (нећу…) followed by the full infinitive - never split, never fused with the infinitive.
- Infinitives ending in -ћи (ићи, рећи…) never fuse with the auxiliary - the future always stays two separate words: „Ја ћу ићи.“
- In everyday colloquial speech, хоћу/хоћеш… + да + present tense (e.g. „Хоћу да радим.“) is extremely common as an alternative to the infinitive-based forms above - recognize it, but learn the standard forms first.
Summary
Opens Focus mode: one exercise at a time, with explanations — either script accepted.
Grammar Words Guided lesson Guided lesson Guided lesson Guided lesson Guided lesson Guided lesson Listening Reading Writing Speaking Test
This lesson is the unit's first step. The grammar, the words and the first guided lesson are open to everyone; the rest of the unit's lessons and its text, dialogue and tasks come with Premium.