Lesson 23. How to Express Future Tense in Chinese

In the previous lesson, we have covered how to construct past tense and present tense sentences in Chinese. In this lesson, let’s learn how to express future tense in Chinese!

 

Adverb of Time

With no grammatical tenses in Chinese, we use the adverb of time to indicate that the action happened or will be happening. The table below displays the commonly used adverb of times for future tense:

Traditional Chinese	Simplified Chinese	Pin Yin	English
今晚	今晚	jīn wǎn	tonight
明天	明天	míng tiān	tomorrow
後天	后天	hòu tiān	acquired
下個星期/下週	下个星期/下周	xià gè xīngqí/xià zhōu	next week
兩個星期後/兩週後	两个星期后/两周后	liǎng gè xīngqí hòu/liǎng zhōu hòu	two weeks later
三個星期後/三週後	三个星期后/三周后	sān gè xīngqí hòu/sān zhōu hòu	three weeks later
下個月	下个月	xià gè yuè	next month
兩個月後	两个月后	liǎng gè yuè hòu	two months later
三個月後	三个月后	sān gè yuè hòu	three months later
明年	明年	míng nián	next year
兩年後	两年后	liǎng nián hòu	two years later
三年後	三年后	sān nián hòu	three years later
待會/待會兒	待会/待会儿	dài huì/dài huì er	later
下次	下次	xià cì	next time
將來	将来	jiāng lái	future

Examples:

今晚我們七點在電影院門口見。

今晚我们七点在电影院门口见。

Jīn wǎn wǒmen qī diǎn zài diànyǐngyuàn ménkǒu jiàn.

We will meet at the cinema door at seven o’clock tonight.

 

下週我回去上海開會。

下周我回去上海开会。

Xià zhōu wǒ huíqù shànghǎi kāihuì.

I will go to Shanghai for a meeting next week.

 

明年她想去倫敦留學。

明年她想去伦敦留学。

Míngnián tā xiǎng qù lúndūn liúxué.

She wants to study in London next year.

 

將來我想成為一名企業家。

将来我想成为一名企业家。

Jiānglái wǒ xiǎng chéngwéi yī míng qǐyè jiā.

I want to be an entrepreneur in the future.

 

Auxiliary Verbs

The auxiliary verbs 要 (yào), 會 [会] (huì) and 將 [将] (jiāng) all indicate that an action has not yet happened.

Traditional Chinese	Simplified Chinese	Pin Yin	English	Remarks
要	要	yào	will/going to	to want/intention
會	会	huì	will/going to	confident prediction (stronger than要)
將	将	jiāng	will/going to	about to happen/soon/will soon

Structure: Subject + 要 / 會 [会] / 將 [将] + Verb

Examples:

我要去馬爾代夫旅遊。

我要去马尔代夫旅游。

Wǒ yào qù mǎ’ěrdàifū lǚyóu.

I am going to travel to the Maldives.

 

我無論如何都會支持你。

我无论如何都会支持你。

Wǒ wúlùn rúhé dūhuì zhīchí nǐ.

I will support you no matter what.

 

會議將於明天舉行。

会议将于明天举行。

Huìyì jiāng yú míngtiān jǔxíng.

The meeting will be held tomorrow.

 

Note that those three auxiliary verbs do not always indicate future tense. As always, it depends on the context. One of a good example is 會 [会] (huì) also works as a modal verb ‘can’.

 

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