Language/Haitian/Grammar/Future-Tense

Haitian Grammar - Future Tense

Hi Haitian learners! 😊
In this lesson, we will explore the future tense in Haitian grammar. We will cover the formation of verbs, irregular verbs and how to express future events. By the end of this lesson, you will be able to construct full sentences in the future tense in Haitian. Don't forget to use these new skills with your native speaking friends and practice as much as possible.

Formation of the future tense

The future tense is formed by using the word "pral" (pronounced "prahl") followed by the infinitive form of the verb. For example, "Mwen pral manje" means "I will eat". "Pral" is the conjugated form of "ale" which means "to go". This formation is similar to the English usage of "going to" followed by a verb.

Here is a table to illustrate the formation of the future tense for regular verbs:

Haitian	Pronunciation	English
pral + pale	prahl + pahlé	I will talk
pral + li	prahl + lee	he/she will read
pral + chita	prahl + cheetah	we will sit
pral + manje	prahl + mahn-jé	you will eat
pral + ekri	prahl + ek-ree	they will write

Note that the "pral" remains the same regardless of the subject of the sentence. Only the verb changes.

Irregular verbs

There are only three irregular verbs in the future tense in Haitian, which are "pral", "vle" (to want), and "byen" (to be well or fine). The verb "pral" has already been covered. For "vle", the future tense is "ap vle" instead of "pral vle". And for "byen", the future tense is "pral byen" instead of just "byen".

Here is a table to illustrate the future tense for the irregular verbs:

Haitian	Pronunciation	English
pral + vle	prahl + vlé	I will want
pral + byen	prahl + byen	he/she will be fine

Expressing future events

Apart from using the future tense, there are other ways to express future events in Haitian. One common expression is "gen pou" which means "there is going to be". For example, "Gen pou gen lapli demen" means "There is going to be rain tomorrow".

Another expression is "n-ap" which is a contraction of "n ap" and means "we are going to". For example, "N-ap kite kay la" means "We are going to leave the house".

It is also common to use time indicators such as "demain" (tomorrow), "ce soir" (this evening), and "la semaine prochaine" (next week) to indicate when the future event will happen.

Dialogue

To see the future tense in context, let's look at a dialogue between Jean and Marie, who are making plans to go to the beach:

• Jean: Nou pral ale nan plaj yo dimanche la. (We will go to the beach on Sunday.)
• Marie: D'accord, n-ap chita sou dlo. (Okay, we will sit on the water.)
• Jean: Epi mwen pral kite machin mwen lakay mwen. (And I will leave my car at my house.)
• Marie: Gen pou gen anpil moun nan plaj la, n-ap gen anpil amizman. (There will be a lot of people at the beach, we will have a lot of fun.)

Sources

• Haitian Creole/Verb Tenses - Wikibooks, open books for an open ...
• All Haitian Creole Verb Tenses Cheat Sheet
• Haitian Grammar - Future Tense

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• Questions
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