pôjdem / ponesiem

Future of Verbs of Motion

Level 3

Zajtra pôjdem do Košíc (Tomorrow I'll go to Košice), Ponesiem ti tašku (I'll carry your bag), Poletíme do Ríma (We'll fly to Rome).

How It Works

The future of ísť. Ísť has a special future:

  • pôjdem, pôjdeš, pôjde
  • pôjdeme, pôjdete, pôjdu

The negative is nepôjdem. The imperative poď, poďme, poďte (come, let's go) comes from the same stem. Standard Slovak does not use budem ísť. For a trip that is already planned, the present tense with a time word also works: Zajtra idem do Košíc.

Other motion verbs with po-. The verbs that describe one trip in one direction can add po- to the present tense. This short future is very common, but the future with budem is also correct for these verbs: budem niesť, bude letieť. Only ísť must use pôjdem.

  • niesť → ponesiem I'll carry
  • viezť → poveziem I'll drive, take by vehicle
  • viesť → povediem I'll lead
  • bežať → pobežím I'll run
  • letieť → poletím I'll fly

Repeated movement uses budem. Their partners for repeated or habitual movement (see motion verb pairs) form the future with budem: budem chodiť, budem nosiť, budem lietať. Od septembra budem chodiť do práce pešo. (From September I'll walk to work.)

Prefixed verbs. Perfective motion verbs with other prefixes, such as prísť and odísť, simply use their present form for the future: prídem, odídem (see perfective verbs for the future).

Examples (6)

  1. Zajtra pôjdem do Košíc.

    Tomorrow I'll go to Košice.

    Word by Word: Tomorrow I-will-go to Košice.

  2. Pôjdeš s nami do kina?

    Will you come to the cinema with us?

    Word by Word: You-will-go with us to cinema?

  3. Ponesiem ti tašku.

    I'll carry your bag.

    Word by Word: I-will-carry to-you bag.

  4. Poletíme do Ríma.

    We'll fly to Rome.

    Word by Word: We-will-fly to Rome.

  5. Deti povezieme do školy autom.

    We'll drive the children to school.

    Word by Word: Children we-will-drive to school by-car.

  6. Od septembra budem chodiť do práce pešo.

    From September I'll walk to work.

    Word by Word: From September I-will to-go to work on-foot.

    Repeated trips use chodiť, so the future is budem chodiť.

Common Mistakes

  • Forming the future of ísť with budem.

    Zajtra budem ísť do Košíc.
    Zajtra pôjdem do Košíc.

    The future of ísť is pôjdem. Budem is used with the repeated-motion verb chodiť.

  • Spelling pôjdem with ó.

    Zajtra pójdem domov.
    Zajtra pôjdem domov.

    The vowel is the diphthong ô, written with a vokáň: pôjdem.

  • Adding po- to idem, as with the other motion verbs.

    Večer poidem do kina.
    Večer pôjdem do kina.

    Ísť has its own future stem: pôjdem, not poidem. Only verbs such as niesť and letieť simply add po-: ponesiem, poletím.

How It Connects

Tap a pattern to see what it builds on and what it leads to.

pôjdem / ponesiemLevel 3Future of Verbs of Motion

Learn This First

Before Future of Verbs of Motion, learn Going With ísť and Future of Imperfective Verbs. pôjdem is the future of ísť. Motion verbs form the future with pô- or po- (pôjdem, ponesiem), not budem.

Words in This Pattern

ísťpo-niesťviezťviesťbežaťletieť