The future: bom + the -l participle
English builds the future with 'will' and nothing else. Slovenian builds it with the verb biti in a special, future-only form (bom, boš, bo) plus that same -l participle you already used for the past: bom delal — I will work, bom naredil — I will get it done. For example: “Jutri bom šel na letališče” — Tomorrow I'll go to the airport. A rule from the Slovenian course: worked out on examples, not memorized as a…
How it works
English builds the future with 'will' and nothing else. Slovenian builds it with the verb biti in a special, future-only form (bom, boš, bo) plus that same -l participle you already used for the past: bom delal — I will work, bom naredil — I will get it done.
So what you have to learn is not a new verb form but only a new helper. The participle you already know: delal, delala, delali. It keeps gender and number here too, dual included: bova šla — the two of us will go, bomo šli — we, three or more, will go. A woman says bom šla, a man bom šel, and the difference is audible.
Perfective and imperfective both go through bom: bom pisal pismo — I'll be writing a letter, bom napisal pismo — I'll write the letter. English 'I'll write' covers both; Slovenian separates them by the participle alone.
One important exception. For 'to be' itself the future is simply bom, boš, bo with no participle: Jutri bom doma — tomorrow I'll be at home. Nobody says bom bil.
And as with every unstressed helper, bom obeys the second-place rule: Jutri bom šel v Ljubljano, but Šel bom v Ljubljano. Whatever you put first, the helper follows it.
Table
| to be | to go (m. / f.) | |
|---|---|---|
| I | bom | bom šel / bom šla |
| you | boš | boš šel / boš šla |
| he, she | bo | bo šel / bo šla |
| we two | bova | bova šla / bova šli |
| you two | bosta | bosta šla / bosta šli |
| we | bomo | bomo šli / bomo šle |
| you (polite) | boste | boste šli / boste šle |
| they | bodo | bodo šli / bodo šle |
By example
- Jutri bom šel na letališčeTomorrow I'll go to the airport
- Bova rezervirala sobo za eno nočThe two of us will book a room for one night
- Zamuda leta bo dve uriThe flight delay will be two hours
How the rule settles in your head
A rule is not memorized from an explanation. It is memorized from an attempt to use it and a mistake — that is why the app delivers it mixed in with words, not as a separate lesson: it resurfaces exactly where you forgot it.
Frequently asked
The future: how does it work in Slovenian?
English builds the future with 'will' and nothing else. Slovenian builds it with the verb biti in a special, future-only form (bom, boš, bo) plus that same -l participle you already used for the past: bom delal — I will work, bom naredil — I will get it done.
What does it look like in an example sentence Slovenian?
“Jutri bom šel na letališče” — Tomorrow I'll go to the airport. A rule is easier to test on sentences like this than to memorize as a wording: what surfaces in conversation is the sentence.