The Future Tense

A. Form

The future tense consists of the helping verb וועל and the infinitive:

Here, for example, are the future tense forms of the verbs קאָכן and שפּרינגען:

Don’t confuse the helping verb וועל with the modal verb וועלן—⁠וויל (see lesson 3.2):

B. Word Order

Word order in the future tense is the same as with וועלן, קענען and דאַרפֿן. The subject or an adverb may (but does not have to) be placed between the helping verb וועל and the infinitive. The negative נישט must be placed between the helping verb and the infinitive, and is usually right before the infinitive.

ליב האָבן

A. Form

ליב האָבן is a verb with two parts, ליב and האָבן. One part, ליב, is invariant: it never changes. The other part, האָבן, is conjugated as usual.

There are two constructions with ליב האָבן:

B. Word Order

In the infinitive (ליב האָבן), the invariant ליב comes first.

In the present tense (איך האָב ליב), the conjugated form of האָבן generally comes first.

In the present tense the invariant comes in the same place in the sentence as the infinitive with a modal verb or with the future helping verb.* That is, the subject or an adverb may (but does not have to) be placed between the conjugated form of האָבן and the invariant ליב. The negative נישט must be placed between them, and is usually right before the invariant.

*This is “position 7” of the general pattern for word order described in ‏5.3 נאָך פּרטים.

בײַ טאָג/בײַ נאַכט

בײַ טאָג is an adverb of time that refers to the daylight hours when people are usually awake.

בײַ נאַכט is an adverb of time that refers to the nighttime hours when people are usually asleep. It does not refer to the evening hours when it can be dark but people are generally not asleep; the adverb of time that refers to the evening is אין אָוונט or אויף דער נאַכט.

Note the following difference between Yiddish and English: the time when people are usually asleep is regarded as בײַ נאַכט. For example, if Nomi writes her homework when she should be asleep, we can say in Yiddish

The English expression, however, is “two in the morning”.

For the hours closer to the new day, it is more common to use the expression פֿאַר טאָג, for example: