Lesson 13

Future Tense and conjunctions.

In today’s lesson, we’re going to focus on two important roots in Pali: √hū and √bhū. These roots are used to form the future tense, a critical aspect of expressing events that will happen in the future. You will learn how to conjugate these verbs in the future tense, and we’ll look at example sentences to help solidify your understanding.

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Part 1: Future Tense Conjugation

Root 1: √hū (meaning “to be” or “to exist”)

The root √hū forms the future tense as follows:

PersonSingularPlural1st Personhessāmi (I will be)hessāma (we will be)2nd Personhessasi (you will be)hessatha (you all will be)3rd Personhessati (he/she/it will be)hessanti (they will be)

Root 2: √bhū (meaning “to become”)

The root √bhū forms the future tense as follows:

PersonSingularPlural1st Personbhavissāmi (I will become)bhavissāma (we will become)2nd Personbhavissasi (you will become)bhavissatha (you all will become)3rd Personbhavissati (he/she/it will become)bhavissanti (they will become)

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Part 2: Example Sentences

Now, let’s see how these future tense forms work in sentences. I’ll go through some examples with both √hū and √bhū.

Examples using √hū (to be):

1. Te taṇhāya vasaṃ na gacchissanti.
   (They will not go under the control of craving.)

2. Divāvihārāya cetiyaṃ upasaṅkamissāma.
   (We will approach the shrine for the daytime observance.)

3. Akusalaṃ na karissasi, pāpaṃ na sevissasi.
   (You will not do evil, nor will you engage in wrongdoing.)

4. Te dukkhakkhayāya viriyaṃ ārabhissanti.
   (They will exert effort toward the cessation of suffering.)

5. So avijjaṃ bhindissati, vijjaṃ uppādessati, nibbānaṃ sacchikarissati.
   (He will destroy ignorance, generate wisdom, and realize Nirvana.)

Examples using √bhū (to become):

1. Paṭiccasamuppādaṃ desessāmi.
   (I will teach dependent origination.)

2. Passatha imaṃ tāpasaṃ, jaṭilaṃ uggatāpanaṃ; Aparimeyye ito kappe, Buddho loke bhavissati.
   (Look at this ascetic, the matted-hair ascetic, whose fires will rise. In countless ages, the Buddha will be in the world.)

3. Imassa janikā mātā, Māyā nāma bhavissati; Pitā Suddhodano nāma, ayaṃ hessati Gotamo.
   (His mother will be called Māyā, his father will be named Suddhodana, and he will be Gotama.)

4. Anāsavā vītarāgā, santacittā samāhitā; Kolito Upatisso ca, aggā hessanti sāvakā.
   (Those without defilements, free from attachment, and with calm and focused minds—Kolita and Upatisso—will be supreme disciples.)

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Part 3: Indeclinables and Additional Vocabulary

There are also some important indeclinables and vocabulary that help in constructing more complex sentences. Let’s review some examples:

• ca = and

• vā = or

• pupphāni ca phalāni ca = flowers and fruits

• upāsakā ca upāsikāyo ca = male and female lay devotees

• udakaṃvā khīraṃvā = water or milk

• puttā vā kaññāyo vā = sons or daughters

Additional Sentences with Indeclinables:

1. Amacco puttehi ca mittehi ca saddhiṃ nagaraṃ gacchissati.
   (The minister will go to the city with his children and friends.)

2. Gāme kassakā ca vāṇijā ca vejjā ca ācariyā ca vasanti.
   (In the village, farmers, merchants, doctors, and teachers will live.)

3. Buddho bhūpālassa ca amaccānaṃ ca dhammaṃ desessati.
   (The Buddha will teach the Dharma to the king and his ministers.)

4. Rukkhesu phalāni vā pupphāni vā bhavissanti.
   (On the trees, fruits or flowers will grow.)

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Conclusion:

In this lesson, we covered the future tense forms of the roots √hū and √bhū. You saw how to conjugate them in singular and plural forms, as well as how they appear in example sentences. The lesson also introduced indeclinable words like ca and vā, which are crucial in linking phrases and ideas.

Keep practicing these forms in context, and in future lessons, we will explore more complex tenses and sentence structures in Pali.