Making Tenses Easy in Afrikaans: Part 5 – Special verbs in the future tense (is, kan, moet, wil)

In this lesson, you will learn how to use the verbs “is,” “kan,” “moet,” “wil,” and “mag” in the future tense. By the end of the lesson, you will know how to use these verbs in the future tense and how some of them behave differently than you might expect.

“Kan,” “moet,” “wil”, and “mag” in the future tense

The verbs “kan” and “wil” behave like most other verbs in the future tense. The sentence gets a “sal”, and the verb is moved to the back of the sentence.

 

Present tense	Future tense
Ek moet eet.	Ek sal moet eet.

 

If the sentence has 2 verbs.

If verbs move to the back of the sentence in the future or past tense, they stay in the same order they were in the present tense.

The special verbs are often used alongside another verb. Because of this, they tend to go in front of another verb in the future tense.

Present tense	Future tense
Ek moet vinnig hardloop.	Ek sal vinnig moet hardloop.
Sy kan baie goed skryf.	Sy sal baie goed kan skryf.
Ons wil dit doen.	Ons sal dit wil doen.
Hy mag krieket speel.	Hy sal krieket mag speel.

 

What happens to “is” in the future tense

The word “is” also goes to the end of the sentence in the future tense, becoming “wees” when it does so

Past tense	Present tense	Future tense
Ek was honger.	Ek is honger.	Ek sal honger wees.
Ek was baie stadig.	Ek is baie stadig.	Ek sal baie stadig wees.

 

Click here to go to the next lesson:

Making Tenses Easy in Afrikaans: Part 6 – "Could have" in Afrikaans (Sou)

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