Study Ukrainian - Grammar

Future Tense

There are two ways to express action in the future in Ukrainian, through the future perfect tense, and the future imperfect tense.

The future perfect tense is used to express actions in such a way to emphasize that they will be completed (I will paint a painting, I will watch this movie).

The future imperfect tense is used to express that actions will be performed continuously (I will be reading a book, I will be visiting family).

Background

To understand how to form the future perfect tense, we have to describe how verbs work in Ukrainian. Verbs in Ukrainian can have two aspects: perfective and imperfective, distinguished by a prefix that varies from verb to verb. When a verb with the imperfective aspect is conjugated, the verb is in the present tense. When a verb with the perfective aspect is conjugated, the verb is in the future perfect tense.

verb	imperfective	perfective
to read	читати	прочитати
	Я читаю цю книгу.	Я прочитаю цю книгу.
	I read this book. / I am reading this book.	I will read this book.

Forming the future perfect tense

To form the future perfect tense:

(1) Take the imperfective form of the verb. (This is considered the base form) читати

(2) Add a prefix to change it to the perfective aspect. про + читати = прочитати

(3) Conjugate in the present tense based on the subject. Я прочитаю.

The prefix that must be added to a verb to form the perfective form of the verb varies from verb to verb and must be memorized.

Examples:

verb	imperfective	perfective
to eat	читати	прочитати
to do	робити	зробити
to have lunch	обідати	пообідати

Forming the future imperfect tense

To form the future imperfect tense, use the following construction:

[conjugated бути] + [imperfective verb]

читати

Я	бу́ду читати	I will be reading
ти	бу́деш читати	you (informal) will be reading
він / вона	бу́де читати	he / she will be reading
ми	бу́демо читати	we will be reading
ви	бу́дете читати	you (formal) will be reading
вони	бу́дуть читати	they will be reading

Future Tense

There are two ways to express action in the future in Ukrainian, through the future perfect tense, and the future imperfect tense.

The future perfect tense is used to express actions in such a way to emphasize that they will be completed (I will paint a painting, I will watch this movie).

The future imperfect tense is used to express that actions will be performed continuously (I will be reading a book, I will be visiting family).

Background

verb	imperfective	perfective
to read	chytaty	prochytaty
	Ya chytayu tsyu knyhu.	Ya prochytayu tsyu knyhu.
	I read this book. / I am reading this book.	I will read this book.

Forming the future perfect tense

To form the future perfect tense:

(1) Take the imperfective form of the verb. (This is considered the base form) chytaty

(2) Add a prefix to change it to the perfective aspect. pro + chytaty = prochytaty

(3) Conjugate in the present tense based on the subject. Ya prochytayu.

The prefix that must be added to a verb to form the perfective form of the verb varies from verb to verb and must be memorized.

Examples:

verb	imperfective	perfective
to eat	chytaty	prochytaty
to do	robyty	zrobyty
to have lunch	obidaty	poobidaty

Forming the future imperfect tense

To form the future imperfect tense, use the following construction:

[conjugated buty] + [imperfective verb]

chytaty

Ya	búdu chytaty	I will be reading
ty	búdesh chytaty	you (informal) will be reading
vin / vona	búde chytaty	he / she will be reading
my	búdemo chytaty	we will be reading
vy	búdete chytaty	you (formal) will be reading
vony	búdut chytaty	they will be reading