Lesson 6
Through our previous lessons, we have learned how to use the future tense. In this lesson, we are introducing one more way of talking about a future action and looking at how the two ways of talking about the future are different.
-(으)ㄹ 거예요 vs. -(으)ㄹ게요
If you pronounce -(으)ㄹ 거예요 very quickly, it sounds similar to -(으)ㄹ게요, so a lot of beginner-level and even advanced learners mix up the two very often, but in fact these two sentence endings for the future are used for distinctively different purposes.
Let’s look at -(으)ㄹ 거예요 first.
-(으)ㄹ 거예요 is the basic way to express a future plan or action and you attach this at the end of a verb stem.
하다 = to do
하 + -ㄹ 거예요 = 할 거예요 = I will do ______. / I am going to do ______.
보내다 = to send
보내 + -ㄹ 거예요 = 보낼 거예요 = I will send ______. / I am going to send ______.
웃다 = to laugh
웃 + -을 거예요 = 웃을 거예요 = I will laugh.
With -(으)ㄹ 거예요, you are just expressing your intention or plan for a future action, or your expectation for a future state, and this is NOT related to or affected by the reaction or the request of the person you’re talking to.
And now let’s look at -(으)ㄹ게요.
-(ㅇ) ㄹ게요 is also attached after a verb stem and also expresses the future, but it focuses more on your actions or decisions AS A REACTION TO or AS A RESULT OF what the other person says.
Let’s compare the two forms.
1.
할 거예요 vs. 할게요
공부할 거예요.
= I’m going to study.
= I will study.
(Here, regardless of what the other person is saying, you were ALREADY planning to study so you will, and you are not changing your mind at all because of what the other person says.)
공부할게요.
= I will study.
= (If you say so,) I will study.
= (Since the circumstances are like this,) I will study. = (If you don’t mind,) I will study.
(Here, the other person says something to you, and you think “Oh, in that case, I have to study.” so you say, “I will study then.” Or you could be just saying it before the other person says anything, but after you say this, you wait for the other person’s reaction to see if they have anything to say.)
2.
갈 거예요 vs. 갈게요
저도 갈 거예요.
= I will go (there), too.
= I’m going to go, too.
= I’m coming along, as well.
저도 갈게요.
= I will come along, too(, if you don’t mind).
= (In that case,) I will go there, too.
= (OK, since you say so,) I will go, too.
So, in summary, you use -(으)ㄹ게요 (instead of -(으)ㄹ 거예요) when:
- you are changing your plan according to what the other person said
- you want to check what the other person thinks by saying something and seeing their reaction
- you decide to do something because of something the other person said
More sample sentences:
- 지금 어디예요? 지금 나갈게요.
= Where are you now? I will go out now.
(+ if you don’t mind/if you want me to/unless you don’t want me to/what do you think about that?)
--> Here, if you say 지금 나갈 거예요, it means that regardless of where the other person is, you were already going to go out anyway, probably to an unrelated place.
- 저 갈게요. 안녕히 계세요.
= I’m going to go. Take care.
(+ unless you want me to stay longer/unless there’s something I have to stay longer to do)
--> Here, if you say 저 갈 거예요, it means you don’t care whether the other person wants you to stay or not, and you will just leave any way, and in most cases, you don’t want the other person to ask you to stay, and you won’t even if you are asked to.
- 그래요? 다시 할게요.
= Is that so? I’ll do it again.
- 내일 4시쯤에 갈게요. 괜찮아요?
= I’ll be there at around 4 o’clock tomorrow. Is that alright?