INTRODUCTION
Negative Future Tense is one of the three negative tenses in Nepali, used to denote or express actions that will not occur in the future. It can also be used to denote a state that currently will not exist. In Nepali, the negative future tense is called अकरण भविष्यत् काल (akaraṇ bhaviṣyat kāl). For example, statements below in English all denote actions that will not happen or states that will not exist (verbs in italics):
John will not eat the cake.
Mary will not be going to an adventure.
I will not a doctor.
Thus, the negative future tense is used to denote a sense of the negated ‘future’ time. There are three aspects of negative future tense:
- Negative future indefinite tense
- Negative future progressive tense
- Negative future perfect tense
Now, we shall see how verbs will conjugate according to the grammatical person used.
VOCABULARY
खानु (khānu) = To eat
रोक्नु (roknu) = To stop
म (ma) = I
हामी (hāmī) = We
तँ (tam̐) = You (low respect)
तिमी (timī) = You (medium respect)
तपाईँ (tapāīm̐) = You (high respect)
ऊ (ū) = He/ She (neutral respect)
उनी (unī) = He/ She (medium respect)
उहाँ (uhām̐) = He/ She (high respect)
उनीहरू (unī-harū) = They (medium respect)
EXTRACTING THE ROOT OF THE VERB
We first get the lemma, or the basic form of the verb. Now, we simply remove the -नु (-nu) from the verb to obtain the root of the verb. For example:
खानु (khānu) > खा (khā) [Root ending in a vowel sound] /to eat/
रोक्नु (roknu) > रोक् (rok) [Root ending in a consonant sound] /to stop/
EXCEPTIONS
The verb हुनु (hunu) or ‘to be’ in Nepali is irregular and thus does not follow the conjugation rules given below. Thus, you should not try to attempt to conjugate this verb. Another verb, जानु (jānu) or ‘to go’, also behaves slightly differently in present perfect tense. When such, the root ‘ग’ (ga) should be used instead.
Other verbs are regular in case of Present tense and you can apply the rules below for all the other verbs. High honour forms may take different conjugations.
NEGATIVE FUTURE INDEFINITE TENSE
The negative future indefinite tense, also known as negative simple future tense, is a tense used to describe actions in future time that are not finished. In Nepali, it is called सामान्य अकरण भविष्यत् काल (sāmānya akaraṇ bhaviṣyat kāl). For example in English, a statement in negative future indefinite tense would be:
John will not eat the cake.
Steps
- Add the required suffix (or ending) to the root depending on the grammatical person.
I: म (ma), add नेछैनँ (nechainam̐) or नेछुइनँ (nechuinam̐) [either is fine for any gender]
रोक्नु (roknu) = रोक् (rok) + नेछैनँ (nechainam̐) = रोक्नेछैनँ (roknechainam̐)
खानु (khānu) = खा (khā) + नेछैनँ (nechainam̐) = खानेछैनँ (khānechainam̐)
We: हामी (hāmī), add नेछैनौँ (nechainaum̐)
रोक्नु (roknu) = रोक् (rok) + नेछैनौँ (nechainaum̐) = रोक्नेछैनौँ (roknechainaum̐)
खानु (khānu) = खा (khā) + नेछैनौँ (nechainaum̐) = खानेछैनौँ (khānechainaum̐)
You (low respect): तँ (tam̐), add नेछैनस् (nechainas)
रोक्नु (roknu) = रोक् (rok) + नेछैनस् (nechainas) = रोक्नेछैनस् (roknechainas)
खानु (khānu) = खा (khā) + नेछैनस् (nechainas) = खानेछैनस् (khānechainas)
You (medium respect): तिमी (timī), add नेछैनौ (nechainau)
रोक्नु (roknu) = रोक् (rok) + नेछैनौ (nechainau) = रोक्नेछैनौ (roknechainau)
खानु (khānu) = खा (khā) + नेछैनौ (nechainau) = खानेछैनौ (khānechainau)
He/She (neutral respect): ऊ (ū), add नेछैन (nechaina)
रोक्नु (roknu) = रोक् (rok) + नेछैन (nechaina) = रोक्छैन (roknechaina)
खानु (khānu) = खा (khā) + नेछैन (nechaina) = खानेछैन (khānechaina)
He/She/They (medium respect): उनी (unī) and उनीहरू (unī-harū), add नेछैनन् (nechainan)
रोक्नु (roknu) = रोक् (rok) + नेछैनन् (nechainan) = रोक्नेछैनन् (roknechainan)
खानु (khānu) = खा (khā) + नेछैनन् (nechainan) = खानेछैनन् (khānechainan)
You/He/She/They (high respect): तपाईँ (tapāīm̐) and उहाँ (uhām̐), leave the basic form intact and add हुनेछ (huncha) [EXCEPTION]
रोक्नु (roknu) = रोक्नु (roknu) + हुनेछैन (hunechaina) = रोक्नुहुनेछैन (roknuhunechaina)
खानु (khānu) = खानु (khānu) + हुनेछैन (hunechaina) = खानुहुनेछैन (khānuhunechaina)
NEGATIVE FUTURE PROGRESSIVE TENSE
The negative future progressive tense, also known as negative future continuous tense, is a tense used to describe actions in future time that will not be happening in a continuous sense. In Nepali, it is called अपूर्ण अकरण भविष्यत् काल (apūrṇaakaraṇ bhaviṣyat kāl). For example in English, a statement in negative future progressive tense would be:
John will not be eating the cake.
Steps
- If the root ends in a syllable or a vowel sound, add ँ (m̐) to the last syllable. If the root ends in a consonant sound, skip this step. For example: खा (khā) + ँ (m̐) = खाँ (khām̐)
- Add दै (dai) to the end of the modified root obtained in step 1.
- Add a space ( ).
- Add the required ending to the modified root obtained in step 3 depending on the grammatical person. These endings are all the various negative forms of “hunecha”. You can find the spreadsheet here (Negative Conjugation > Present > Hunecha).
The below are demonstrations on how you can carry this out.
I: म (ma), add हुनेछैनँ (hunechainam̐)
रोक्नु (roknu) = रोक् (rok) + दै (dai) + [space] + हुनेछैनँ (hunechainam̐) = रोक्दै हुनेछैनँ (rokdai hunechainam̐)
खानु (khānu) = [खा (khā) + ँ (m̐)] + दै (dai) + [space] + हुनेछैनँ (hunechainam̐) = खाँ (khām̐) + दै (dai) + [space] + हुनेछैनँ (hunechainam̐) = खाँदै हुनेछैनँ (khām̐dai hunechainam̐)
He/She (neutral respect): ऊ (ū), add हुनेछैन (hunechaina)
रोक्नु (roknu) = रोक् (rok) + दै (dai) + [space] + हुनेछैन (hunechaina) = रोक्दै हुनेछैन (rokdai hunechaina)
खानु (khānu) = खाँ (khām̐) + दै (dai) + [space] + हुनेछैन (hunechaina) = खाँदै हुनेछैन (khām̐dai hunechaina)
You/He/She/They (high respect): तपाईँ (tapāīm̐) and उहाँ (uhām̐), add हुनुहुनेछैन (hunuhunechaina)
रोक्नु (roknu) = रोक्दै (rokdai) + हुनुहुनेछैन (hunuhunechaina) = रोक्दै हुनुहुनेछैन (rokdai hunuhunechaina)
खानु (khānu) = खाँदै (khām̐dai) + हुनुहुनेछैन (hunuhunechaina) = खाँदै हुनुहुनेछैन (khām̐dai hunuhunechaina)
NEGATIVE FUTURE PERFECT TENSE
The negative future perfect tense is a tense used to describe actions that will not be finished in the future. In Nepali, it is called पूर्ण अकरण भविष्यत् काल (pūrṇa akaraṇ bhaviṣyat kāl). For example in English, a statement in negative future perfect tense would be:
John will not have eaten the cake.
Steps
- If the root ends in a single vowel sound, remove it. If the root is polysyllabic (i.e. has more than one syllable) and ends in an –a sound, e.g. बिर्स (birsa), turn that into an -i sound, i.e. बिर्स (birsa) > बिर्सि (birsi). If else the root ends in a consonant or syllable sound, skip this step. For example: आउ (āu) = आ (ā)
- Add एको (eko)/ एकी (ekī)/ एका (ekā) to the end of the modified root obtained in step 1. The first for neutral/masculine singular, the second for feminine singular and the third for plural cases. Remember that the consonant will take on a diacritic while taking up the vowel sound.
- Add a space ( ).
- Add the required ending to the modified root obtained in step 3 depending on the grammatical person. These suffixes are almost identical to the ones in present progressive tense. These endings are all the various negative forms of “hunecha”.
I: म (ma), add हुनेछैनँ (chainam̐)
रोक्नु (roknu) = रोक् (rok) + एको (eko) + [space] + हुनेछैनँ (hunechainam̐) = रोकेको हुनेछैनँ (rokeko hunechainam̐)
खानु (khānu) = खा (khā) + एको (eko) + [space] + हुनेछैनँ (hunechainam̐) = खाएको हुनेछैनँ (khāeko hunechainam̐)
आउनु (āunu) = आ (ā) + एको (eko) + [space] + हुनेछैनँ (hunechainam̐) = आएको हुनेछैनँ (āeko hunechainam̐)
He/She (neutral respect): ऊ (ū), add हुनेछैन (hunechaina)
रोक्नु (roknu) = रोक् (rok) + एको (eko) + [space] + हुनेछैन (hunechaina) = रोकेको हुनेछैन (rokeko hunechaina)
खानु (khānu) = खा (khā) + एको (eko) + [space] + हुनेछैन (hunechaina) = खाएको हुनेछैन (khāeko hunechaina)
You/He/She/They (high respect): तपाईँ (tapāīm̐) and उहाँ (uhām̐), leave the verb intact, add भ (bha), then add एको (eko) [or its forms], and finally add हुनेछैन (chaina) [EXCEPTION]
रोक्नु (roknu) = रोक्नु (roknu) + भ (bha) + एको (eko) + [space] + हुनेछैन (hunechaina) = रोक्नुभएको हुनेछैन (roknubhaeko chaina)
खानु (khānu) = खानु (khānu) + भ (bha) + एको (eko) + [space] + हुनेछैन (hunechaina) = खानुभएको हुनेछैन (khānubhaeko chaina)
SUMMARYNegative Future Tense is used to denote or express actions that will not occur in the future. There are three aspects: indefinite, progressive, perfectThe root can be extracted by removing the –nu from the lemmaTo this root, we add various suffixes according to the grammatical person
The negative future indefinite tense, also known as negative simple future tense, is a tense used to describe actions in future time that are not finishedThe negative future progressive tense, also known as negative future continuous tense, is a tense used to describe actions in future time that will not be happening in a continuous sense
The negative future perfect tense is a tense used to describe actions that will not be finished in the future
EXERCISES