것이다 grammar - geos-ida grammar

안녕! Hey! Welcome to this next Korean lesson! I want to explain one of the ways you can talk about the future in Korean! There are a few different ways to do this, but the method I’m showing in this lesson is the most basic and straightforward. 시작해 볼까요? Shall we start?

Let’s start with a present-tense sentence as an example:

• 우리 언니가 학교에 가요 = My older sister goes to school
• 우리 literally means “we” or “us,” but when talking about a family member, it’s more appropriate to use 우리 to mean “my” rather than 제 or 내. Don’t worry too much about this for now :).

To say “my older sister will go to school,” you can use this formula:

verb / adjective stem + ㄹ / 을 것이다 

• ㄹ = for verbs / adjectives ending in a vowel 
  
• 을  = for verbs / adjectives ending in a consonant
  
• If a verb / adjective ends in ㄹ, add 것이다 only

So if we want to say “my older sister will go to school,” we can say this:

• 우리 언니가 학교에 갈 것이다

But notice how 것이다 is not conjugated. We can conjugate it as we would conjugate the verb 이다 (to be). However, the ㅅ at the end of 것 is usually dropped when speaking naturally. Thus, the conjugated sentence would look like this:

• 우리 언니가 학교에 갈 거예요 = My older sister will go to school

If you’re wondering what exactly the verb 것이다 means, I suppose it literally translates to “to be a thing.” Thus, I guess the literal translation of the sentence above would be “my older sister is a thing that will go to school” (?) But don’t worry about that for now lol. Just know that you use this verb to create future tense sentences :). When learning Korean, it’s important to focus more on meaning rather than literal translations since it can be difficult to literally translate a lot of Korean into English. So don’t worry about getting literal!

Let’s look at some more examples:

1. Eunwoo will do the homework tomorrow. 

• 하다 = to do
• 내일 = tomorrow
• 하 + ㄹ / 을 것이다 - 다 + 예요 = 할 거예요
• 내일은 은우씨가 숙제를 할 거예요 = Eunwoo will do the homework tomorrow
  

2. I will buy the clothes later. 

• 사다 = to but 
• 나중에 = later 
• 사 + ㄹ / 을 것이다 - 다 + 예요 = 살 거예요
• 나중에 제가 옷을 살 거예요 = I will buy the clothes later

3. My older brother will find the keys soon.

• 찾다 = to find / to look for
• 곧 = soon
• 열쇠 = keys
•  찾 + ㄹ / 을 것이다 - 다 + 예요 = 찾을 거예요
• 우리 형이 열쇠를 곧 찾을 거예요 = My older brother will find the keys soon

*Notice how time-related words like 내일, 나중에, and 곧 can be placed in different places throughout the sentence. To my knowledge, it doesn’t really matter where in the sentence you place them. You could, for instance say 제가 나중에 옷을 살 거예요 to mean the same thing, and I don’t believe there is any change in nuance (someone please correct me if I’m wrong!).

Let’s look at some examples with adjectives:

1. She will be happy. 

• 행복하다 = to be happy
• 행복하 + ㄹ / 을 것이다 - 다 + 예요 = 행복할 거예요
  
• 그녀는 행복할 거예요 = She will be happy 
  

2. This will not be fun. 

• 재미 없다 = to not be fun / to not be interesting
• 재미 없 + ㄹ / 을 것이다 - 다 + 예요 = 재미 없을 거예요
  
• 이건 재미 없을 거예요 = This will not be fun 
  

3. My older sister will be excited next week.

• 신이 나다 = to be excited (이 may be dropped since it’s just a subject particle–can be 신 나다)
• 다음주에 = next week
  
• 신이 나 + ㄹ / 을 것이다 - 다 + 예요 = 신이 날 거예요
  
• 우리 누나가 다음주에 신이 날 거예요 = My older sister will be excited next week
  

As usual, these sentences are all formal. To make them informal, change 거예요 to 거야. You can also switch formal titles for informal ones:

• 내일은 은우가 숙제를 할 거야. 
• 나중에 내가 옷을 살 거야.
• 우리 형이 열쇠를 곧 찾을 거야.
• 그녀는 행복할 거야.
• 이건 재미 없을 거야.
• 우리 누나가 다음주에 신이 날 거야.

As with present and past sentences, just add a question mark at the end of a future tense sentence to make it interrogative. For example:

• 우리 형이 열쇠를 곧 찾을 거야? = Will my older brother find the keys soon?
• 그녀는 행복할 거예요? = Will she be happy?

That’s about it for this lesson! I hope it was helpful!! As always, please ask any questions you have if there’s any confusion! See you in the next lesson! 안녕!