While a lot of the time, Hungarian uses the simple present alongside specific words to indicate future tense, there are a couple actual verbs for it as well.
1st Option – “fog“
One option is “fog”, which is used with other verbs to mean “will do X”.
Be1 fogsz menni a házba? (Are you going to go inside the house?)
1”fog” is a quasi-auxiliary verb, which means that (most times) the coverb will split and the pattern becomes “(coverb) fog (infinitive)”.
Note that “fog” tends to put more of an emphasis on the “will” part, as in “I WILL do this, for sure”.
Without emphasis, you could also simply say:
A házba mész? (Are you going in the house?) – the “will” here is implied, and emphasis isn’t necessary
You can also usually add time-specific words, such as “holnap” (tomorrow), or “majd” (later/sometime) that make including “fog” unnecessary.
Holnap megyek moziba (Tomorrow I (will) go to the cinema) or (Tomorrow I am going to the cinema)
Here it is clear that the action will happen in the future, so “fog” is not necessary (unless you want to emphasize that you WILL definitely be going to the movies – for example maybe last time you said you would go with a friend and then bailed, so you want to specify you are FOR SURE going to be there this time).
Bemegyek a városba, majd visszajövök (I’m going into town, I (will) be back sometime/later)
Again, it is clear here that the action will happen in the future, so there is no need for “fog”.
Alex’s Notes: We say BEmegyek a városba, because you’re going from the outskirts INTO the town. If you’re going from the actual countryside it can be FELmegyek Bajára/Miskolcra etc. as well, although I think that’s not so widespread. And finally, although many people who live in the countryside dislike this and find it condescending, it’s near universal to say FELmegyek Budapestre and LEmegyek vidékre. Even in the few places that are further up north than Budapest.
Conjugation of “fog” – INDEFINITE
| én | fogok | mi | fogunk |
| te | fogsz | ti | fogtok |
| ő/Ön/maga | fog | ők/Önök/maguk | fognak |
Conjugation of “fog” – DEFINITE
| én | fogom | mi | fogjuk |
| te | fogod | ti | fogjátok |
| ő/Ön/maga | fogja | ők/Önök/maguk | fogják |
For information on Definite vs Indefinite conjugation, see here.
The Definite conjugation will be used when the sentence has a definite object that is the target of the infinitive verb.
The Indefinite conjugation will be used when the sentence has an indefinite object that is the target of the infinitive verb.
Meg fogom enni az almát (I am going to eat the apple) – definite
vs
Egy almát fogok enni (I am going to eat an apple) – indefinite
Fogod hozni a tortát, ugye? (You are going to bring the cake, right?)– definite
vs
Fogsz tortát hozni, ugye? (You are going to bring a/some cake, right?) – indefinite
2nd Option – “lesz“
The other option to use is “lesz”, which is the future tense of “van”. This is only used with nouns or adjectives. In the sense of “to be”, it will mean “will be X”. Used in the sense of “to have”, it will mean “will have X”.
Jó tanárok lesznek (They will be good teachers)
A kisfiam Zoli csak két éves, de azt tudom, hogy okos lesz (My little boy Zoli is only two years old, but I know that he will be smart)
Ha sikerül a vizsgám, akkor orvos leszek (If I pass my test, then I will be a doctor)
Amikor a saját házamba költözöm, lesz egy macskám (When I move into my own house, I will have a cat)
Gyere el a buliba! Mindenki ott lesz! (Come to the party! Everyone will be there!)
Conjugation of “lesz“
Note that lesz only has INDEFINITE conjugation, as it will never have a direct object.
| én | leszek | mi | leszünk |
| te | leszel | ti | lesztek |
| ő/Ön/maga | lesz | ők/Önök/maguk | lesznek |
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