Croatian Future Tense

Of all the Croatian tenses, which are normally quite complex, first future tense (futur prvi) is probably the simplest one.

Even though it is a compound tense – which means it involves two verbs, the main verb and an auxiliary verb – it’s really straightforward.

A second future tense (futur drugi) also exists but is only used in hypothetical future situations (future conditionals), as will be explained in one of our next posts.

Verbs in the future tense

To make the futur prvi, it is enough to learn the forms of the auxiliary verb htjeti (to want), as the main verb is always used in the infinitive.

The verb htjeti has both a long, stressed form (naglašeni oblik) and a short, unstressed form (nenaglašeni oblik). The stressed form of the verb htjeti is used to form yes / no questions.

To form the future tense, the unstressed form of the verb is used:

Person	Pronoun	Verb form	Person	Pronoun	Verb form
1st/Sing	ja	ću	1st/Plur	mi	ćemo
2nd/Sing	ti	ćeš	2nd/Plur	Vi/vi	ćete
3rd/Sing	on/ona/ono	će	3rd/Plur	oni/one/ona	će

How is the future tense formed?

Examples:

• jesti – to eat → Ja ću jesti. – I will eat.
• pjevati – to sing → Ti ćeš pjevati. – You will sing.
• ići – to go → Ona će ići. – She will go.
• doći – to come → Oni će doći. – They will come.

What if the subject is omitted?

In the Croatian language, if the subject is clear from the context, it is generally possible to omit it from the sentence.

When omitting the pronoun in a declarative sentence in the future tense, the main verb always comes before the auxiliary. You might already be familiar with this pattern if you know how to make the Croatian past tense.

Examples:

• Ona će ići. → Ići će. – She will go.
• Oni će doći. → Doći će. – They will come.

When we apply the same rule to verbs that end in -ti, they lose their final -i in the future tense.

• Ja ću jesti. – I will eat. → Jest ću. (*NOT: Jesti ću.)
• Ti ćeš pjevati. – You will sing. → Pjevat ćeš. (*NOT: Pjevati ćeš.)

On the other hand, verbs ending in -ći never change in the future tense.

Forming negative sentences

To form negative sentences, the prefix ne- is added to the corresponding form of the verb htjeti to create a negative form of this verb.

Examples:

• Ja ću jesti. – I will eat. → (Ja) neću jesti. – I will not eat.
• Ti ćeš pjevati. – You will sing. → (Ti) nećeš pjevati. – You will not sing.
• Ona će ići. – She will go. → (Ona) neće ići. – She will not go.
• Oni će doći. – They will come. → (Oni) neće doći. – They will not come.

Asking questions about the future

a) To ask yes/no questions about the future, the stressed form of the verb htjeti (to want) should be used, together with the word “li”:

Person	Pronoun	Verb form	Person	Pronoun	Verb form
1st/Sing	ja	hoću	1st/Plur	mi	hoćemo
2nd/Sing	ti	hoćeš	2nd/Plur	Vi/vi	hoćete
3rd/Sing	on/ona/ono	hoće	3rd/Plur	oni/one/ona	hoće

• Ja ću jesti. – I will eat. → Hoću li (ja) jesti? – Will I eat?
• Ti ćeš pjevati. – You will sing. → Hoćeš li (ti) pjevati? – Will you sing?
• Ona će ići. – She will go. → Hoće li (ona) ići? – Will she go?
• Oni će doći. – They will come. → Hoće li (oni) doći? – Will they come?

b) With all other questions, the question word comes first, the unstressed form of the word htjeti (to want) comes second and “li” is not used.

• Ja ću jesti. – I will eat. → Što ću (ja) jesti? – What will I eat?
• Ti ćeš pjevati. – You will sing. → Zašto ćeš (ti) pjevati? – Why will you sing?
• Ona će ići. – She will go. → Kada će (ona) ići? – When will she go?
• Oni će doći. – They will come. → Kako će (oni) doći? – How will they come?

Exercise: How would you say the following in the future tense?