Infinitive + doonaa

Future Actions

Level 2

Auxiliary forms: doonaa, doontaa, doonnaa, doontaan and doonaan.

How It Works

Build the future with the lexical infinitive followed by the auxiliary’s simple-present form: doonaa for I/he, doontaa for you singular/she, doonnaa for we, doontaan for you plural and doonaan for they. The lexical infinitive stays unchanged across subjects.

Class-one infinitives take -i, while classes two and three take -n on the appropriate vowel stem. Learn attested stem changes: an imperative alone does not supply every infinitive. Compare qori doonaa “will write” with qorayaa “is writing,” which can also describe an immediate future action.

Future doonaa differs from progressive doonayaa “wants.” This lesson uses full affirmative agreement. A focused subject requires a reduced auxiliary, such as doona; negative clauses require subjunctive forms. Southern second-person plural doontiin is a documented regional alternative to the example pattern.

Examples (3)

  1. Berri waan qori doonaa warqad.

    I will write a letter tomorrow.

    Qori is the infinitive; doonaa has first-person singular agreement.

  2. Hodan way karin doontaa cashada.

    Hodan will cook dinner.

    Karin stays infinitive while doontaa marks feminine singular agreement.

  3. Waxaan booqan doonnaa magaalada.

    We will visit the city.

    Booqan is the infinitive and doonnaa marks first-person plural.

How It Connects

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

Infinitive + doonaaLevel 2Future Actions

Learn This First

Recognize the subject and finite predicate before introducing an infinitive followed by doonaa.