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After learning about Indonesian Present Tense and Indonesian Past Tense, now let’s move to the third part of tenses, which is about Indonesian Simple Future Tense. Like the others, Indonesian Simple Future Tenses also has same Indonesian Grammar Structures with other tenses. The only main differences are the Indonesian Auxiliary Verbs that are equal with ‘will or to be + going to’ in English’–‘akan’, ‘mau’ and many more as well as the adverb of time.
The Indonesian Simple Future Tense is really important not only to make prediction of course, but also to make promises or set up meeting. However, it does not matter if a decision has been made or if you are really sure about something. Here take a look at how to make Indonesian future simple tense!
Formal Forms
In formal form of future simple, mostly people will use the word ‘akan’ and ‘hendak’. ‘Akan’ is translated as will or going to, depends on the context. On the other hand ‘hendak’ is more similar to the ‘to be + going to’ although it is not that strict. Here are the examples.
- Saya akan pergi berlibur besok (I will go to a vacation tomorrow)
- Saya akan segera pergi (I am going to go)
- Saya hendak bersepeda dengan Joni (I am going to ride bicycle with Joni)
- Lusa saya hendak bertemu dengan Susi (I am going to meet Susi at the day after tomorrow)
Informal Forms
In informal form (oral conversation), you could use ‘mau’ as the auxiliary verbs. However, both are literally translated as ‘want’ although it could possibly means ‘to be + going to’. Here several examples of how use it.
- Saya mau ke Bali besok
It could means I want to go to Bali tomorrow or I am going to Bali tomorrow. - Dinda mau berenang.
It could means Dinda want to go swimming or Dinda is going to swimming.
What if you are not really sure? In Indonesian sentence you could add the word similar to ‘possibly’ or ‘maybe’ to be added if you are not sure about something. Those words are ‘kayaknya’, ‘sepertinya’, ‘mungkin’, ‘bisa jadi’, ‘paling’. But, if you are very sure you add the word ‘pasti’. Here are how to use it!
You only use ‘mungkin’ and ‘sepertinya’ in formal forms. Nonetheless, you do not use ‘sepertinya’ in written form of Bahasa Indonesia Indonesia.
- Mereka mungkin tidak akan berpidato besok (They possibly won’t have speech tomorrow)
- Sepertinya hari akan hujan (Maybe it will be rain)
- Dia kayaknya akan pulang besok ([Maybe] She will come home tomorrow)
- Karen bisa jadi tidak mau menerima keputusan itu (Karen [possibly] won’t accept those decisions)
- Dia paling cuma jalan-jalan besok (Tomorrow, she will [possibly] just travel around)
- Lucas pasti akan datang (Lucas is gong to come [for sure])
Further reading: Contrastive Analysis Between Bahasa Indonesian and English
Indonesian Adverb of Time!
There are many adverb of times for adverb of time. Here are the examples! Check Indonesian Adverbs
- Besok = tomorrow
– Besok Lili pergi berenang (Tomorrow Lili will go swimming) - Besok-besok = similar to ‘next time’
– Aku datang lagi besok-besok (I will come) - Kapan-kapan = similar to ‘next time’
– Kapan-kapan main lagi (Visit me again next time)
Notes: although besok is literally translated as ‘tomorrow’ or the next day. It does not always means that way. It might also means next week, next time or even if we ever meet again, as well as ‘besok-besok’ or ‘kapan-kapan’.
It is implied that the person want to do the activity in the future, but do not really sure when or even if it will happen again. It might similar with phrase ‘if tomorrow comes’
- nanti = later
– Saya akan menyelesaikannya nanti (I will finish it later)
*Nanti means later (mostly later on this day), but the time span is very wide, it might be tomorrow, one second again or even some time in the future - … nanti = … later/this…
– Thomas akan makan di restoran siang nanti (Thomas will eat at a restaurant this afternoon) - … lagi = … again
– Pertandingan akan diadakan dua hari lagi (The match will be held two days again) - … kemudian = … later
– Dua hari kemudian perlombaan maraton akan diadakan (Two days later the marathon will be held) - … depan/…besok = next …
– Adik berangkat ke Melbourne Senin besok (Little brother is going to Melbourne next Monday)
– Dini baru akan berolahraga lagi minggu depan (Dini will back to exercise next week) - … ini = This…
– Susi hendak rapat pagi ini (Susi is going to have meeting this morning)
* this adverb of time also could be used in past tense. Therefore, know the context - Lusa = The day after tomorrow (2 days from now)
– Lusa saya baru bisa mengirim kabar (I will send you the message at the day after tomorrow) - Besok lusa = The day after the day after tomorrow (3 days from now)
– Linda dan Doni akan menikah besok lusa (Lisa and Doni are going to married three days from now)
Okay, now you have known about three types of Indonesian tenses, the Indonesian Simple Future Tense. I hope you have mastered it. The keys are only the auxiliary verbs, adverbs of time and your grammar structure skills. Here of course some of recommended articles to enhance your grammar skills to help you learn about Indonesian Sentence, including Indonesian Future Simple Tense.