# Azeri: future tense of verbs



## Setwale_Charm

I know that we do not seem to have any Azeri speakers here but maybe someone with good knowledge of Turkic languages could help.
I am a bit confused about the conditional future tense suffix for verbs the stem of which ends in a vowel: is it -r or -yar/yэr? 
For example: he will read - oxur or oxuyar?
she will ask - dilэr or dilэyэr?


Thank you. I do not have a proper grammar book so your help would be much appreciated.


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## ukuca

Hi, I'm Turkish and I don't know much about Azerbaijani Turkish but I can understand most of the language. It makes me wonder that you're asking about the conditional future tense but your examples seem to be also in the simple future tense. So I'm accepting that you're referring to the future real conditional like : 
If the weather is nice, I'll .........;
If I go........, I will........ etc.
Am I right?


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## Setwale_Charm

Well, it is called "suggestive future" , as opposed to categorical future. E.g.: He will (definitely) come {categorical}
Would/Will he look at me? (suggestive).
 The difference is rather subtle, I agree.


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## ukuca

Setwale_Charm said:


> Well, it is called "suggestive future" , as opposed to categorical future. E.g.: He will (definitely) come {categorical}
> Would/Will he look at me? (suggestive).
> The difference is rather subtle, I agree.



I don't know if it's different in Azerbaijani but I hope this will help. If I translate your examples into Turkish;

- He will (definitely) come.
> O (kesinlikle) gelecektir. / O kesin gelir.

- Would/Will he look at me?
> Bana bakar mı?


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## Ellis

Hi Setwale_Charm,

I'm a fluent Azeri-speaker. I don't quite understand what you mean by conditional future. There's indefinite future (müzare gäläcäk), which is expressed through the -ar/-är suffix. And yes, it does acquire a 'y' if it is preceded by a vowel.

oxumaq - oxuyar
dilämäk - diläyär

'Oxur' and 'dilär' is wrong; you can't just get rid of a part of a root or suffix like that. In cases like this, you insert an extra letter (for verb suffixes it's always 'y').


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## Setwale_Charm

Thank you very much. Ellis. I understand now.
 But how would you define indefinite future, to stree what distinguishes it from other tenses?


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## Ellis

Well, there are two common future forms in Azeri: definite (qäti gäläcäk) and indefinite (müzare gäläcäk). There's also a future-in-the-past form, but let's not go there for now.

When talking about an action that is intended or is absolutely bound to happen in the future, we generally use the definite future, which we form through -acaq(ğ)/-äcäk. For example, when you give directions and say "Turn left and you will see a tall building there", you will use the definite future tense. Or when a child says "When I grow up, I'm going to become a doctor", he or she would also choose this form.

The indefinite future is used to describe events that are likely to happen in the future, but it lacks that sense of obligation and inevitability. It is often translated into English as "would+_verb_."


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