One of the first things we learn as new language learners is the present tense.  It’s incredibly useful and allows us to describe exactly what we are doing, right now.  Of course, in everyday conversation, describing what we are doing right now is not used as much as a first year Swedish learner might like. Think about it, aside from those phone calls from your parents asking what you’re doing, how often do you actually tell someone that you are playing basketball. Chances are the person asking you that is there with you and is well aware of that fact.

Luckily, there are other useful grammatical forms to help us describe what we are doing. Or what we have done. Or what we are going to do.  Let’s focus on what we are going to do. The future.

First, the tricky part.  We can actually use the present tense to describe the future.  I know, but the present is the present.  But in Swedish it can also be the future. But this is only if there is a specific time period on the future that is referred to. For example: Imorgon åker jag hem.  “Åker” is in the present tense, but we know it is a future possibility because of the use of “imorgon,” tomorrow.

You can also use a future form when you are relatively positive that something will happen.  This form simply uses the word “ska” plus the infinitive of the next verb.  For example: Jag ska plugga. Or: Jag ska inte läsa boken.  In these examples, it is almost certain that I will study but that I will not read the book.

Note that when we want to put this in the negative, just put “inte” between your helping verb, “ska,” and your infinitive verb.

If you’re planning on doing something in the future, use “tänker.” “Tänker” is used just like “ska” in the sense that you just need to add the infinitive at the end of the verb. Let’s look at some examples of things we may be planning to do: Jag tänker resa till Sverige nästa sommar.  Or: Han tänker inte lära sig svenska.  In these examples then, I am planning on traveling to Sweden next summer, it is not definite but very possible.  In our negated sentence, he is not planning on learning Swedish. Things could change for him, but we aren’t sure.

You’ll notice again that “tanker” is followed by an infinitive verb, or “inte” and then an infinitive verb if we are negating the sentence.

And finally, “kommer att.”  “Kommer att” is quite wishy washy in terms of the future sense.  It tends to be used with predictions. Sports teams winning, snow falling, sun shining, etc.  The prediction can usually be checked up on, but we can’t be sure what is going to happen when we make that prediction.  For example, Det kommer att regna imorgon.  Or: Detroit Red Wings kommer inte att vinna ikvåll. In this example, I think it is going to rain tomorrow. I can’t be sure, but I should be able to check.  And in the negated sentence, I don’t think that the Red Wings are going to win.

Note here that “kommer att” follows often follows the verb “tror,” to believe, as in Jag tror att du kommer att lära dig svenska.

Feel free to tell us what you’re going to do in the future in the comment section below!

Good luck everyone!