Imperfective Future With An Infinitive

In Polish, the future tense for imperfective verbs can be formed in two ways. The infinitive construction is the most straightforward method for learners because it is gender-neutral.

1. The Structure
To form this tense, you conjugate the auxiliary verb być in its future form and add the infinitive (the dictionary form) of an imperfective verb. This includes verbs ending in -ć (like czytać) and those ending in -c (like piec or biec):

• będę (I will) + czytać / piec
• będziesz (you will) + czytać / piec
• będzie (he/she/it will) + czytać / piec
• będziemy (we will) + czytać / piec
• będziecie (you all will) + czytać / piec
• będą (they will) + czytać / piec

Pay close attention to the nasal vowels in the first-person singular (będę) and third-person plural (będą). Learners frequently mix these up, so be careful with their spelling and pronunciation.

2. Two Ways to Say the Same Thing
For almost all imperfective verbs, you have a choice between this infinitive construction and the l-participle future form (e.g., będę czytać vs. będę czytał/czytała). The two forms are used interchangeably. The l-participle is the more common and natural choice in everyday casual speech, while the infinitive construction is slightly more formal, neutral, or 'textbook' (though favored by beginners to bypass gender agreement). If you choose the l-participle, the verb ending must change to agree with the subject's gender (masculine, feminine, or neuter in the singular) and number (virile or non-virile in the plural, e.g., będziemy czytali vs. będziemy czytały). Note that for modal verbs like móc (to be able to), musieć (must), or chcieć (want), native speakers almost exclusively use the l-participle form. For example, you must say będę mógł/mogła; saying *będę móc is considered incorrect and sounds unnatural.

3. When to Use It
Use this pattern when you want to emphasize:

• Duration: An action that will take time (e.g., 'I will be sleeping').
• Habit: An action that will happen repeatedly (e.g., 'I will be going to the gym every day').
• Process: When the completion of the task isn't the main point.

4. Key Restrictions
It is critical to remember that this construction only works with imperfective verbs. You cannot use it with perfective verbs (e.g., będę napisać is incorrect). Additionally, the verb być (to be) is an exception to this construction. You cannot say będę być; the future of 'być' is simply its conjugated forms (będę, będziesz, etc.) used alone.

5. Reflexive Verbs
When using reflexive verbs (like uczyć się), the reflexive pronoun się usually floats between the auxiliary verb and the main verb (e.g., będę się uczyć). It can also come after the main verb, but based on the rules for where się goes, you should generally avoid placing it at the absolute end of a sentence if it can be avoided.