Korean Future Tense || ALL Verbs Explained (A1 Level)

Q: What are examples of the Korean future tense?

Verbs ending with a vowel: 자다 (sleep) → 잘 거예요 만나다 (meet) → 만날 거예요 노래하다 (sing) → 노래할 거예요 Verbs ending with a consonant: 먹다 (eat) → 먹을 거예요 읽다 (read) → 읽을 거예요 열다 (open) → 열 거예요 놀다 (play) → 놀 거예요

Q: What is the infinitive form of a Korean verb?

Korean verbs in their infinitive form end with -다 or -하다. Some examples: 알다 to know 마시다 to drink 참여하다 to participate 사다 to buy

Q: What are some Korean sentence structure?

Here are the 3 most basic Korean sentence structure: #1 || Subject + Verb #2 || Subject + Object + Verb #3 || Subject + Noun / Adjective -- Learn more about basic sentence structure in Korean here.

Home A1 Future Tense

KOREAN FUTURE TENSE

Here’s another essential grammar lesson for you to learn early: the Korean Future Tense.

If you haven’t already, have a look at these lessons:

Korean Present Tense
Korean Past Tense

INTRODUCTION

When you talk about your plans or something that might happen in the future, you should use the future tense. There are several rules according to each case.

The future tense is a bit easier compared to the present and past tense in the sense that the conjugation will depend if the last letter of the verb is a vowel or consonant.

We’ll explain how to conjugate each type of verbs in more details further down below.

Case 1 || Verbs ending with a vowel (-ㄹ거예요)
Case 2 || Verbs ending with a consonant (-을 거예요)

Let’s take a look:

CASE 1 || Conjugation Examples

infinitive	meaning	conjugation
가다	go	갈 거예요
오다	come	올 거예요
자다	sleep	잘 거예요
보다	see/look	볼 거예요
만나다	meet	만날 거예요
공부하다	study	공부할 거예요
배우다	learn	배울 거예요
사다	buy	살 거예요
마시다	drink	마실 거예요
설명하다	explain	설명할 거예요
바꾸다	change	바꿀 거예요
기다리다	wait	기다릴 거예요
보내다	send	보낼 거예요

CASE 2 || Conjugation Examples

infinitive	meaning	conjugation
앉다	sit	앉을 거예요
읽다	read	읽을 거예요
먹다	eat	먹을 거예요
만들다	make	만들 거예요
받다	get/receive	받을 거예요
닫다	close	닫을 거예요
놀다	play	놀 거예요
막다	stop	막을 거예요
잡다	hold	잡을 거예요
울다	cry	울 거예요
열다	open	열 거예요
불다	blow	불 거예요
입다	wear	입을 거예요

CASE 1 || VERBS ENDING WITH A VOWEL

When the word stem ends in a vowel, we add -ㄹ거예요.

For example, the word stem of 가다 would be 가-.

Then you can combine 가- with -ㄹ거예요, and it would be 갈 거예요.

INFINITIVE	CONJUGATION
자다 sleep	잘 거예요
만나다 meet	만날 거예요
노래하다 sing	노래할 거예요

NOTE || Please go to “Introduction” for more examples for case 1!

CASE 2 || VERBS ENDING WITH A CONSONANT

When the word stem ends in a consonant, we add -을 거예요.

For example, the word stem of 닫다 would be 닫-.

Then you can combine 닫- with -을 거예요, and it would be 닫을 거예요.

INFINITIVE	CONJUGATION
먹다 eat	먹을 거예요
읽다 read	읽을 거예요

When the word stem particularly ends in a consonant ‘ㄹ’, we just add ‘-거예요’.

For example, the word stem of 만들다 would be ‘만들-’.

Then you can combine ‘만들-’ with ‘-거예요’, and it would be ‘만들 거예요’.

INFINITIVE	CONJUGATION
열다 open	열 거예요
놀다 play	놀 거예요

NOTE || Please go to “Introduction” for more examples for case 2!

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MORE RESOURCES

Want to learn more? Check out these other free resources:

Learn more about the future tense in Japanese
Learn more about the future tense in Vietnamese

FAQs

Is Korean SVO or SOV?

Korean is a SOV language, meaning the basic language structure is:

Subject + Object + Verb

Japanese, Mongolian and Turkish are also SOV languages for example.

English is a SVO language: subject + verb + object

—

Learn more about basic sentence structure in Korean here.

How to conjugate Korean verbs in the future?

The future tense is a bit easier compared to the present and past tense in the sense that the conjugation will depend if the last letter of the verb is a vowel or consonant.

When the word stem ends in a vowel, we add ‘-ㄹ거예요’.

When the word stem ends in a consonant, we add ‘-을 거예요’.

What are examples of the Korean future tense?

Verbs ending with a vowel:

자다 (sleep) → 잘 거예요

만나다 (meet) → 만날 거예요

노래하다 (sing) → 노래할 거예요

Verbs ending with a consonant:

먹다 (eat) → 먹을 거예요

읽다 (read) → 읽을 거예요

열다 (open) → 열 거예요

놀다 (play) → 놀 거예요