Future tense refers to actions that will happen. (For example, “I will learn.”)
Continue reading to learn more about how to write Igbo verbs in the future tense. Remember to keep in mind Igbo vowel harmony and pronoun rules when creating your sentences.
Future Tense
To create future tense verbs in Igbo, add “ga-” [ga + hyphen] in front of the verb and replace the “i/ị” in the root stem with either an “a” or “e” depending on vowel harmony to make it future tense.
Vowel Harmony Group A Example:
Let’s go over how to conjugate the Igbo verb ịgụ (“to read”) in future tense. (Remember to add ga- in front and replace the “ị” with an “a”.)
Aga m agụ / M ga-agụ – I will read
Ị ga-agụ – You will read
Ọ ga-agụ – He/She/It will read
Anyi ga-agụ – We will read
Ụnụ ga-agụ – You (all) will read
Ha ga-agụ – They will read
Vowel Harmony Group E Example:
Let’s go over how to conjugate the Igbo verb ide (“to write”) in future tense. (Remember to add ga- in front and replace the “i” with an “e”.)
Aga m ede / M ga-ede – I will write
I ga-ede – You will write
O ga-ede – He/She/It will write
Anyi ga-ede – We will write
Ụnụ ga-ede – You (all) will write
Ha ga-ede – They will write