# am going to study



## TalomedIvrit

English has 2 future tenses.  For example:

I will study Hebrew.
I am going to study Hebrew.

Does Hebrew have the equivalent to both?


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## BBman

No.
The Future tense in hebrew is very simple and 'friendly'. 
BUT!, in modern Hebrew there are more than one way to express the future tense.
For example, I would translate the first sentence this way: "אני אלמד עברית".
This sentence actually expresses your choice of studying Hebrew, your decisiveness.
Under the surface, from this sentence we can understand that somewhere in the future youll study the language.
The second sentence would be translated this way: "אני הולך ללמוד עברית", which actually tells us "Someehre in the near future I will study Hebrew, I mean to study Hebrew", but this tone is less decisive.


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## scriptum

talomedivrit said:


> i will study hebrew.
> I am going to study hebrew.


אני אלמד עברית
אני עומד ללמוד עברית


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## Aoyama

Welcome to the Forum TalomedIvrit (great pseudo !).


> English has 2 future tenses.


Not exactly. One is "plain future" (will ...), the other one is "near future" (going to + inf.).
As BBman explained :





> The second sentence would be translated this way: "אני הולך ללמוד עברית", which actually tells us "Somewhere in the near future I will study Hebrew, I mean to study Hebrew", (...)


.
In fact, literally as English : ani olekh (I go/ I am going) lilmod (to learn) 'ivrit.
As for אני עומד ללמוד עברית I would think it is more like : I _stand_ to learn Hebrew (I have never heard this way of saying, but that may be because of ignorance).


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## rosemarino

Aoyama said:


> Welcome to the Forum TalomedIvrit (great pseudo !).
> 
> Not exactly. One is "plain future" (will ...), the other one is "near future" (going to + inf.).
> As BBman explained :.
> In fact, literally as English : ani olekh (I go/ I am going) lilmod (to learn) 'ivrit.
> As for אני עומד ללמוד עברית I would think it is more like : I _stand_ to learn Hebrew (I have never heard this way of saying, but that maybe because of ignorance).




I think you would translate אני עומד ללמוד עברית as "I am about to study Hebrew."
But in English, this expression would usually be used regarding an activity that is to begin immediately and has a limited time frame, e.g. I am about to go to the store.

So "I am about to study Hebrew" would mean, "I am going to sit down and study Hebrew,"  not "I am beginning the study of the Hebrew language."

Wouldn't this distinction be true in Hebrew also?


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## elroy

Rosemarino, that's my understanding of עומד as well, and I was going to ask the same question.  In English, you could say "I'm going to learn Hebrew one day" but I don't think you could use עומד in that context. 





Aoyama said:


> As for אני עומד ללמוד עברית I would think it is more like : I _stand_ to learn Hebrew (I have never heard this way of saying, but that maybe because of ignorance).


 No, it's not because of ignorance; it's because it's not correct.   "To stand to do something" does exist, but it means something else.


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## mediterraneo24

אני אלמד עברית .1
אני הולך ללמוד עברית .2

for me the 1st option sounds like a very decisive way to say I will learn hebrew and I will use it in a sentence like for example: אני אלמד עברית וארכוש לי שפה נוספת

while the 2nd option sounds more like the intention to learn hebrew, and  it would be used in a sentence like: אני הולך ללמוד עברית בקיץ הקרוב


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## Aoyama

What I meant by "I _stand_ to learn Hebrew" (_stand_ in italic, a literal rendering of עומד  ) is, of course, in plain English " I am about to ..." .


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## origumi

I don't know if any of אני עומד ללמוד, אני הולך ללמוד, אני מתכנן ללמוד, אני מתכוון ללמוד, אני רוצה ללמוד and alike are really future tense, or just a way of speak.

The pro - like English "I am going to" nobody "stands" or "walks" in אני עומד ללמוד, אני הולך ללמוד. The con - The same structure is used for all those verbs, including מתכוון, מתכנן, רוצה, מתאווה etc., so there's nothing future about it in the lingual level.


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## Aoyama

> אני מתכנן ללמוד, אני מתכוון ללמוד, אני רוצה ללמוד


these are "volitive", not future (I want to, I have the desire to).


> The same structure is used for all those verbs, including מתכוון, מתכנן, רוצה, מתאווה etc., so there's nothing future about it in the lingual level.


Then how would you say, using the near future : "he is not going to want to go the hospital ..." (a bit strange in English, but possible in French "il ne va pas vouloir aller à l'hôpital").


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## origumi

Aoyama said:


> these are "volitive", not future (I want to, I have the desire to).


My point is that distinction between "volitive" and "near future" in Hebrew is anything but obvious. I suspect that it may not exist (yet) at all. Imposing non-Hebrew constructs (IE near future in this case) on the Hebrew language may be misleading.

I am not too confident about it, just want to avoid trivial conclusions in a non-trivial situation. An authoritative source (book, article) about this issue would be appreciated if anyone can provide.


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## origumi

aoyama said:


> then how would you say, using the near future : "he is not going to want to go the hospital ..." (a bit strange in english, but possible in french "il ne va pas vouloir aller à l'hôpital").


אין מצב שהוא ירצה ללכת לבית חולים :d d should have been a smile)


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## TalomedIvrit

The Pimsleur Hebrew lesson tapes have the following construct:

אני נוסע ללמוד

How does that compare to the use of other phrases discussed in this thread such as אני הולך ללמוד עברית ?


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## Aoyama

> אין מצב שהוא ירצה ללכת לבית חולים


right, but this would mean " there is no way that he [will] want(s) to go ..." (which is the meaning, but the construction is different).


> אני נוסע ללמוד


that one I have never heard ...


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## hadronic

Strange that English, French AND Hebrew do use the same "to go + infinitive" construction to convey the near future sens. Is it native to Hebrew ? Borrowed from other languages ? To my knowledge, it doesn't exist in German "*ich gehe lernen...", and  _a fortiori_ not in Yiddish either, which could have been a good track...


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## Maayan

TalomedIvrit said:


> The Pimsleur Hebrew lesson tapes have the following construct:
> 
> אני נוסע ללמוד
> 
> How does that compare to the use of other phrases discussed in this thread such as אני הולך ללמוד עברית ?


 
It feels like something is missing. It would sound better if you said: אני נוסע ללמוד [עברית] בישראל


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## Aoyama

> אני נוסע ללמוד [עברית] בישראל


But wouldn't this mean : I'm taking a trip/traveling to learn in Israel ?


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## Maayan

Aoyama said:


> But wouldn't this mean : I'm taking a trip/traveling to learn in Israel ?


 
Yes, that's what it means


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## Ali Smith

scriptum said:


> אני אלמד עברית
> אני עומד ללמוד עברית


If I am not mistaken, you don't normally use the pronouns with the future tense. The unmarked form of the future tense does not contain a pronoun. You include the pronoun when you want to emphasize the subject of the verb. So, _elmad ivrit_ would be the unmarked form while _ani elmad ivrit_ would be the marked form. The latter means "As for me, I will study Hebrew."

Am I correct?


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