Aspect with future & modals

Lesson opening

This is the first part of the lesson. The rest, the exercises and the reviews are in the app.

Aspect with the future and modals: what to choose after ću, moram, mogu

You can already build Future I: the clitic ću (a short unstressed word that can never come first) plus a verb, as in radiću, doći ću, biće. But ću shows only tense, “this is later”. Aspect is still your choice, exactly as in the past. Radiću “I’ll be working” paints a process; uradiću “I’ll get it done” promises a result.

The same choice comes up where tense plays no part: after the modals (moram “I must”, mogu “I can”, treba “one should”) and in da-clauses. The modal does not pass its own aspect on to the second verb; the second verb picks its aspect itself, by meaning. English gives no help here: “I have to write” has one infinitive for every meaning. The lesson also covers the perfective verb after da and kad, the phase verbs and the biaspectual verbs.

Aspect in Future I: radiću vs uradiću

Attach an imperfective verb to ću, then a perfective one, and you get two different futures. The imperfective future stretches out or repeats; the perfective future arrives at an outcome:

English can hint at the same split (“I’ll be working” against “I’ll get it done”); Serbian makes it obligatory, and builds both futures the same way, with ću (the lesson “Future word order & spelling”). The signals are the same as in the past: ceo dan “all day”, svako jutro “every morning”, stalno “all the time” pull towards the imperfective; do petka “by Friday”, odmah “right away”, za sat “in an hour” pull towards the perfective. Negation does not change aspect: neću raditi “I won’t be working” (process) against neću uraditi “I won’t get it done” (result). In conversation you will also hear short set phrases such as Javim ti se “I’ll be in touch”, but the ordinary future is built with ću.

The imperfective can also name an attempt whose outcome is open. Ubeđivati is “to try to convince, to work on someone”; ubediti is “to convince, to win someone over”. Ubeđivaću ga “I’ll keep working on him” leaves the outcome open; ubediću ga “I’ll talk him round” promises the result. In the past, the imperfective sits comfortably with failure:

The perfective cannot do this: “I persuaded her to stay, but she left” contradicts itself, because the perfective already says it worked.

After modal verbs

The modal verbs moći “can, be able”, morati “must, have to”, smeti “may, be allowed to”, trebati “should, need” are familiar from the lesson “Core modal verbs”. They attach the second verb with a da-clause (or an infinitive) and do not pass their own aspect on to it: the second verb chooses by the familiar meaning test. With moći this is clearest of all:

Cheat sheet

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Aspect with the future and modals

ću = tense only, with either aspect; you choose the aspect. A result, once, to the end → perfective; a process, duration, repetition, habit, ability → imperfective.

Future I: radiću vs uradiću

Negation keeps aspect: neću raditi vs neću uraditi. An open attempt is imperfective: Ubeđivaću ga “I’ll keep trying” vs Ubediću ga “I’ll talk him round”.

After modals and in da-clauses

The modal does not pass its aspect on; it can go into the future: Moraću da odem kod lekara, Neću moći da dođem.

“Like”: the activity (imperfective); “want”: often an outcome (perfective). A perfective after da is no future: Moram da uradim = Moram uraditi “I must get it done”; the modal gives the time: Moraću da odem, Morao sam da odem. Phase verbs too: Sutra ću početi da učim, Moram da počnem da vežbam (one start), Od septembra ću počinjati u osam (daily).

After kad, čim, ako: the perfective present

The event takes a perfective present; ću goes in the other half:

An imperfective there: usually Future II (ako budem radio).

Biaspectual verbs

Also many loans in -ovati, -isati, -irati (organizovati, informisati, kopirati); kupovati is plain imperfective. After kad, čim they read as perfective: Kad ručam, javiću ti se.