3.10 Future and Intention — Epoché
What you will be able to do Say what you are going to do, with the form that states a plan: 가게에 갈 거예요. and 나는 책을 읽을 거예요. Say what you undertake to do here and now, with the form that makes a commitment: 현금으로 낼게요. and 제가 살게요. Use the third form for a guess, a polite request and an intention formed as you speak: 1분만 도와주시겠어요? See that the future is built out of the noun for "thing" plus the copula of lesson 3.5, so that 내 거예요. and 괜찮을 거예요. end in the same two syllables for the same reason. Choose between the three by asking who the sentence is about and whether the hearer is affected, which is the question English never has to ask. Prerequisites : 3.9, which gave you the past. You also need the copula of 3.5 Grammar , because the commonest future in Korean is not a tense at all but a noun phrase with the copula on the end, and seeing that saves learning it as an arbitrary string. English has one future and several ways of avoiding it. Korean has no future tense at all, in the sense of a marker inside the verb comparable to the past marker of the last lesson, and instead has three constructions that between them do the work. They are not stylistic variants. Each carries information about who is speaking and who is affected, and using the wrong one is not a grammatical error but a social one, which is why a lesson that looks like a tense lesson is really the first lesson about the hearer. The pattern The plan. The commonest of the three, and the one to learn first, is built from the verb stem, a small noun meaning "thing", and the copula. Literally it says that the matter is one of doing something. It states a plan or a prediction and says nothing about the hearer. Korean Block by block English 가게에 갈 거예요. [1] 가게에 to the shop · 갈 going · 거예요 is the thing I'm going to the shop. 나는 갈 거에요. [2] 나는 as for me · 갈 going · 거에요 is the thing I'm going to go. 버스로 갈 거예요 [3] 버스로 by bus · 갈 going · 거예요 is the thing I will go by bus. 나는 책을 읽을 거예요. [4] 책을 a book · 읽을 reading · 거예요 is the thing I will read a book. 기다릴 거예요. [5] 기다릴 waiting · 거예요 is the thing I will wait for you. 괜찮을 거예요. [6] 괜찮을 being fine · 거예요 is the thing You'll do fine. 저는 노래할 거에요. [7] 노래할 singing · 거에요 is the thing I will sing. 와인이나 맥주를 좀 살 거예요. [8] 살 buying · 거예요 is the thing I will buy some wine or beer. The evidence that this really is the noun for "thing" plus the copula is sitting in the corpus. The same two syllables end a sentence that has no future in it at all. Korean What the last block is English 내 거예요. [9] the noun for "thing" with the copula It's mine. 이건 누구 거예요? [10] the same Whose is this? 괜찮을 거예요. [6] the same, after a verb You'll do fine. The only new thing to learn is the ending on the verb in front, which is the future modifier: one shape after a vowel and another after a consonant, by the rule you now expect. Lesson 3.19 of the second phase treats the whole set of modifiers, of which this is one. The commitment. The second construction is used only about the speaker, and only when the hearer is affected by what the speaker undertakes. It is not a prediction; it is closer to an English "I'll" said while reaching for your wallet. Korean Situation English 현금으로 낼게요. [11] settling a bill I'll pay in cash. 제가 살게요. [12] offering to pay I'll buy that. 제가 도와드릴게요. [13] offering help Let me help you with that. 고기로 할게요. [14] ordering Meat, please. 저는 이거 할게요. [15] ordering I'll do this. 구경 좀 할게요. [16] in a shop, to the assistant I'm just browsing. 비가 그치면 갈게요. [17] telling somebody your plan affects them I will go if the rain stops. 커피 한 잔 더 부탁드릴게요. [18] asking for more Please give me another cup of coffee. Every sentence in that table is something said to somebody. That is the whole of the rule: this form has a hearer built into it. It cannot be used about a third person, and it cannot be used for a prediction about the weather, because neither has a hearer to be affected. The third form is a marker inserted into the verb, like the past marker of lesson 3.9, and it covers a range English splits between "will", "would", "I suppose" and "could you". Korean What it is doing English 알았으면 좋겠어요. [19] a wish I wish I knew. 내가 어떻게 알겠어요? [20] a rhetorical guess How should I know? 죄송하지만 못하겠어요. [21] a refusal softened I'm sorry, but I can't. 남편에게 말해야겠어요. [22] an intention formed now I have to tell my husband. 당신 좀 자야겠어요. [23] advice, as a conclusion drawn You should sleep. 1분만 도와주시겠어요? [24] a polite request Can you help me for just a minute? 자기소개해 주시겠어요? [25] a polite request Please introduce yourself. How This Differs from English There is no future tense. English speakers look for one and find three constructions that are not tenses at all: a noun phrase with a copula, an ending that addresses the hearer, and a marker of the speaker's attitude. This is worth accepting early, because trying to map them onto "will", "going to" and "shall" produces a rule that fails in half the cases. The useful question is not "which future is this?" but "who is this sentence about, and does the hearer have a stake in it?". Ask this Then use Example Is it a plan or a prediction, with no stake for the hearer? the noun phrase with the copula 가게에 갈 거예요. [1] Am I undertaking something, to this person? the commitment ending 제가 살게요. [12] Am I guessing, softening, or asking? the inserted marker 내가 어떻게 알겠어요? [20] The commitment form is restricted to the first person. English "I'll" and "he'll" are the same construction with different subjects. The Korean commitment ending cannot take a third-person subject at all, because its meaning includes the speaker's undertaking. 제가 도와드릴게요. works and the same ending on a sentence about somebody else does not. English speakers who have learned the form in a shop then try to use it for predictions and produce something that is not merely odd but ungrammatical. The plan form is used about other people and about the weather. Conversely, the first construction has no such restriction and is the one to reach for whenever you are not t