Probable Future (-ㄹ 거예요)

In English, future tense is marked by “will” or the “be going to” pattern, as in “I will go to Chicago”, or “I am going to eat pizza tonight”. In Korean, the most common way to express a future event is to use the probable future ending -(으)ㄹ 거예요. One must remember however that this ending does not express future but probable future. In Korean, an event that will surely happen in the future is expressed by the present tense with a time adverb. Consider the following three sentences:

Notice that the first and the second sentences have the present tense. However, the second sentence differs from the first sentence in that it expresses the future event with the time adverb 내일(tomorrow). The third sentence uses the probable future ending -(으)ㄹ 거예요. Notice that the possibility that the future event will occur in the future is less certain in the third sentence, when compared to the second sentence. In other words, -(으)ㄹ 거예요 indicates “a probable future event” rather than “a definite future event".
The -(으)ㄹ 거예요 ending consists of three elements: -(으)ㄹ + 거 + 예요. The prospective modifier “-(으)ㄹ” indicates “future” or “uncertainty”. The bound noun 거 is a colloquial form of 것 “thing” or “fact”. The ending 예요 is the polite speech level ending of the copula 이다.
-(으)ㄹ 거예요 is a three-form ending: -을 거예요 is used for the verb and/or adjective stem that ends in a consonant, and -ㄹ 거예요 is used for the verb and/or adjective stem that ends in a vowel. For the ㄹ-irregular verbs -거예요 is used.

The English “will” can sometimes indicate a speaker’s intention in addition to the future event, as in “I will study hard". In a similar manner, -(으)ㄹ 거예요 can also indicate the intention of the speaker in addition to the future probability depending on the context. This is particularly true when the subject of the sentence is the first person. Consider the following examples:

When the subject is not the first or second person, the -(으)ㄹ 거예요 ending can indicate the speaker’s conjecture. Consider the following examples:

When -(으)ㄹ 거예요 is used with the copula 이다, the ending indicates a probable present. For instance, consider the following sentences:

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Grammar for Intermediates
Endings of Sentences
The Deferential Speech Level
The Polite Speech Level
Past tense and double past tense (과거시제)
Irregular verbs and adjectives (불규칙동사와 형용사)

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Progressive Form (-고 있다)

The progressive form is used to express an action in progress. The English progressive form takes a copula (am, is, are) and a verb with “-ing”, as in “John is sleeping”. The Korean progressive form takes -고 있다. For instance, consider the following sentences:

To express a past action that was in progress, the past tense marker 었/았 is added to the stem of 있다 as in, 책을 읽고 있었어요 “(I) was reading a book”. Here are more examples.

To express respect to the subject, the verb 계시다(-고 계세요) is used instead of 있다(-고 있어요).

To negate a progressive form, one can use either a short form negation or a long form negation. For example, 가게 문을 열고 있어요 “(They) are opening the store door” can be negated both in the short and long form:

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Grammar for Intermediates
Endings of Sentences
Copula (Be & Be Not, 이다 & 아니다)
Past tense and double past tense (과거시제)
Negation (부정문)

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Expressing Desire (-고 싶다)

In English, verbs such as “want” and “wish” are used to express one’s desire, as in “I want to sleep” or “I wish to buy it”. In Korean, -고 싶다, consisting of a connector -고 and the auxiliary adjective 싶다, is used to express the first person’s desire or wish.

Since one cannot speak for the second person’s desire, -고 싶다 cannot be used for a second person statement. However it can be used for second person questions.

To indicate the third person’s wish in both statements and questions, -고 싶어하다 is used:

To express past tense, the past tense marker 었 is added to the stem of the auxiliary adjective 싶다.

Notice that the sentences above all have the past tense marker 었 attached to the stem of 싶다 or 싶어하다.
To express the honorific meaning, the honorific suffix -(으)시 is added to the stem of 싶다.

One thing to remember is that -고 싶다 and -고 싶어하다 do not take the copula 이다 “be”. For saying “(I) want to be a teacher”, the verb 되다 “become” is used instead, as in 선생님이 되고 싶어요. A sentence like 선생님이 이고 싶어요 is ungrammatical. This contrasts with English since sentences like “I want to be a teacher” and “I want to become a teacher” are both possible.

To negate, one can use either a short form negation "안" or a long form negation "지 않다". For example, 가게 문을 열고 싶어요 “(I) want to open the store door” can be negated both in the short and long form:

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Grammar for Intermediates
Endings of Sentences
Question Words (의문사) & Indefinite Pronouns (부정대명사)
Past tense and double past tense (과거시제)
Negation (부정문)

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