2.2.1 Future markers گا، گی، گے

Understanding Future Markers: گا، گی، گے

In this chapter you will learn how Urdu shows the simple future using the endings گا, گی, and گے. We will work with very easy verbs and sentences and focus only on recognizing and using these markers correctly.

Remember, other parts of future tense and talking about plans will be covered in the next chapter. Here we concentrate on the basic endings.

What the Future Markers Look Like

Urdu usually creates the simple future with special endings attached to the verb. For beginners, it is helpful to think of them as “future markers”:

• گا
• گی
• گے

They appear at the end of the verb phrase and tell you that the action is in the future.

You will see them most clearly with the verb ہونا “to be” in future:

• ہوگا
• ہوگی
• ہوں گے / ہوں گی
• ہوگا / ہوں گے (for “you” and “they” forms)

We will first look at form (how they change) and then meaning and use.

Future Ending and Gender / Number

The future marker changes with gender (masculine or feminine) and number (singular or plural).

Imagine a neutral “base” form of a verb phrase, for example:

• آؤں (I come)
• کروں (I do)
• جاؤں (I go)

When we make the future, we use forms like:

• آؤں گا / آؤں گی
• کروں گا / کروں گی
• جاؤں گا / جاؤں گی

The last bit (گا, گی, گے) tells us:

For a plural feminine subject, in natural speech people often still use گے, but you can also see گی in some patterns. As a beginner, it is safe to learn:

We will now see these endings with different persons.

Future with “to be” (ہونا) in Simple Sentences

You already know present forms like ہے and ہیں. In the future, Urdu uses forms based on ہونا plus the future endings.

Basic pattern with nouns and adjectives

Look at these pairs:

More examples:

• میں خوش ہوں گا۔
  “I will be happy.” (speaker male)
• میں خوش ہوں گی۔
  “I will be happy.” (speaker female)
• ہم گھر پر ہوں گے۔
  “We will be at home.”
• تم تیار ہو گے۔
  “You will be ready.” (to more than one person or informal plural)
• وہ ڈاکٹر ہوگا۔
  “He will be a doctor.”
• وہ ٹیچر ہوگی۔
  “She will be a teacher.”

Notice again that the future marker agrees with the logical subject (I, he, she, we, etc).

Future Forms with Common Verbs

Instead of explaining full conjugation rules here, we will focus on ready-made patterns with very common verbs that beginners can memorize and use.

We will work with:

• آنا “to come”
• جانا “to go”
• کرنا “to do”
• کھانا “to eat”
• پینا “to drink”
• لینا “to take”
• دینا “to give”

“I will …” forms

For “I will” you will usually see گا if the speaker is male, or گی if the speaker is female.

We keep our focus on the endings گا / گی. The slightly irregular bits before them (like آؤں, جاؤں) will be practiced more when you learn verb tables.

“You will …” singular and plural

In everyday Urdu, “you” has several levels of politeness. Here we show تم (informal you) and آپ (polite you). In both, the future marker will normally be گے in the plural sense.

With polite آپ you also use plural-looking forms, usually with گے:

• آپ آئیں گے۔
  “You will come.” (polite)
• آپ جائیں گے۔
  “You will go.” (polite)
• آپ کھائیں گے۔
  “You will eat.” (polite)
• آپ پیئیں گے۔
  “You will drink.” (polite)

Here, even for one person, the polite “you” looks plural in the verb. That is normal in Urdu.

“He / she / they will …”

With وہ (he, she, or they) the future marker changes with gender and number:

More examples:

• وہ کھائے گا۔
  “He will eat.”
• وہ کھائے گی۔
  “She will eat.”
• وہ کھائیں گے۔
  “They will eat.”

Again, you see گا for masculine singular, گی for feminine singular, and گے for plural.

Meaning: How Future Markers Work in Sentences

Simple future statements

The basic use of گا, گی, گے is to talk about a future action or state that is not happening now, but will happen.

Some simple patterns:

1. Subject + time word + place + verb + future marker
• میں کل بازار جاؤں گا۔
  “I will go to the market tomorrow.” (male speaker)
• میں کل بازار جاؤں گی۔
  “I will go to the market tomorrow.” (female speaker)
• ہم آج شام سینما جائیں گے۔
  “We will go to the cinema this evening.”
• وہ اگلے ہفتے لاہور آئے گا۔
  “He will come to Lahore next week.”
2. Subject + object + verb + future marker
• وہ کتاب پڑھے گا۔
  “He will read the book.”
• وہ کتاب پڑھے گی۔
  “She will read the book.”
• ہم وہ فلم دیکھیں گے۔
  “We will watch that film.”

Note that the object (کتاب, فلم) comes before the verb, but the future ending گا, گی, گے stays at the end.

Short answers using future markers

You can answer questions with a short sentence using فقط the subject and the future verb.

• Question: کیا تم آؤ گے؟
  “Will you come?”

Possible answers:

• ہاں، میں آؤں گا۔ (male)
• ہاں، میں آؤں گی۔ (female)
• نہیں، میں نہیں آؤں گا / گی۔
  “No, I will not come.”

Another example:

• Question: کیا وہ کھائے گا؟
  “Will he eat?”
• ہاں، وہ کھائے گا۔
• نہیں، وہ نہیں کھائے گا۔

Here you can see how گا stays the same even after the word نہیں “not”.

Negatives in the Future

To make a negative future you simply put نہیں before the verb phrase, and keep the future marker at the end.

Examples:

• میں کل نہیں آؤں گا۔
  “I will not come tomorrow.” (male speaker)
• میں کل نہیں آؤں گی۔
  “I will not come tomorrow.” (female speaker)
• وہ ٹیسٹ نہیں دے گا۔
  “He will not take the test.”
• وہ ٹیسٹ نہیں دے گی۔
  “She will not take the test.”
• ہم وہاں نہیں جائیں گے۔
  “We will not go there.”
• آپ پانی نہیں پیئیں گے؟
  “You will not drink water?” (polite, can be a surprised question)

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Yes / No Questions with Future Markers

To form a yes / no question in Urdu in the future, you usually keep the same word order as a statement, and add کیا at the beginning, or use a rising intonation. Since this course will cover general question patterns elsewhere, here we just give simple examples to show the future markers in questions.

Common pattern:

• کیا + subject + object / time + verb + گا / گی / گے؟

Examples:

• کیا تم کل آؤ گے؟
  “Will you come tomorrow?”
• کیا وہ کھانا پکائے گی؟
  “Will she cook food?”
• کیا وہ گاڑی خریدے گا؟
  “Will he buy a car?”
• کیا آپ کافی پیئیں گے؟
  “Will you drink coffee?” (polite)

Short answers:

• جی ہاں، میں آؤں گا۔ / میں آؤں گی۔
• نہیں، میں نہیں آؤں گا۔ / نہیں، میں نہیں آؤں گی۔

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Mini Dialogues with Future Markers

These are short dialogues focusing on گا, گی, گے in context. Read them more than once to feel the pattern.

Dialogue 1: Visiting tomorrow

A (female):

• کیا تم کل آؤ گے؟
  “Will you come tomorrow?”

B (male):

• ہاں، میں صبح آؤں گا۔
  “Yes, I will come in the morning.”

A:

• تم کب جاؤں گے؟
  “When will you go?”

B:

• میں شام کو جاؤں گا۔
  “I will go in the evening.”

Dialogue 2: Eating out

A (male):

• کیا ہم آج باہر کھائیں گے؟
  “Will we eat out today?”

B (female):

• نہیں، ہم گھر پر کھانا پکائیں گے۔
  “No, we will cook food at home.”

A:

• اچھا، میں سبزی کاٹوں گا۔
  “Okay, I will cut the vegetables.”

B:

• اور میں سالن بناؤں گی۔
  “And I will make the curry.”

Dialogue 3: Plans for the weekend

A (female):

• تم ہفتے کو کیا کرو گے؟
  “What will you do on Saturday?”

B (male):

• میں دوستوں کے ساتھ کرکٹ کھیلوں گا۔
  “I will play cricket with friends.”

A:

• کیا تم فلم بھی دیکھو گے؟
  “Will you also watch a film?”

B:

• شاید، ہم رات کو فلم دیکھیں گے۔
  “Maybe, we will watch a film at night.”

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Summary of Practical Rules

For your level, focus on these practical points:

If you remember these, you can already build many useful sentences about the future.

Practice Examples

Try to read and translate these. Then you can try to change گا, گی, گے to match different subjects.

1. وہ کل آئے گا۔
2. وہ کل آئے گی۔
3. وہ کل آئیں گے۔
4. میں آج نہیں جاؤں گا۔
5. ہم کل فلم دیکھیں گے۔
6. تم کب آؤ گے؟
7. کیا آپ چائے پیئیں گے؟
8. وہ نیا فون خریدے گی۔
9. وہ نیا فون نہیں خریدے گا۔
10. ہم رات کو کھانا پکائیں گے۔

Try changing the subject and adjusting the ending, for example:

• Change “وہ آئے گا” to “وہ آئیں گے”.
• Change “میں جاؤں گا” to “میں جاؤں گی”.

This will help you feel how گا, گی, گے move with the subject.

Vocabulary List for This Chapter

New or important words used in this chapter: