jabi-겠-
-겠-: Judgement and Offers, Not Just 'Future'
Marks a judgement or intention from the speaker's present vantage point — common in forecasts and offers.
How to form it
| When | Form | Example |
|---|---|---|
| After most stems | -겠- | 비가 오겠어요 / 비가 오겠습니다 |
| 하다 verbs | 하겠- | 제가 하겠습니다 |
| With adjectives (judgement) | -겠- | 맛있겠어요 / 춥겠어요 |
-겠- shows up in the first weather sentence many learners meet, and in offers that sound decisive. English labels it “future.” That label is too small.
What it marks
From the speaker’s present seat, -겠- packages:
- Judgement / guess — 맛있겠어요, 피곤하겠어요
- Outlook — 비가 오겠습니다
- Intention / resolve — 제가 하겠습니다
It is not the default way to talk about a calendar plan.
Build
Attach -겠- to the stem, then add the speech level you need:
오다 → 오겠- → 오겠어요 / 오겠습니다
먹다 → 먹겠-
하다 → 하겠-Forecast boards lean on 합니다체. Conversation often uses 해요체.
The contrast learners need earlier than the curriculum admits
Sejong’s tables do not give -(으)ㄹ 거예요 its own grammar slot, but learners meet it in beginner book titles and classroom talk long before -겠- feels natural.
| Form | Typical stance |
|---|---|
| -(으)ㄹ 거예요 | plan / expectation already framed as settled for the speaker |
| -겠- | judgement or intention formed in this moment |
| plain present | scheduled fact treated as known (내일 가요) |
내일 부산에 갈 거예요. ✅ ordinary plan
내일 부산에 가겠어요. sounds like resolve or prediction stance
내일은 비가 오겠습니다. ✅ forecast judgement
내일은 비가 올 거예요. possible in speech; boards prefer -겠-If you only learn “-겠- = will,” you will overuse it for plans and underuse it for guesses.
Three live shapes
Forecast
오후에는 맑겠습니다.
It is expected to be clear in the afternoon.
Guess about someone or something
배고프겠어요.
You must be hungry.
For a softer everyday hedge — “it seems / I reckon” rather than an on-the-spot judgement — see -을 것 같다.
Offer / resolve
제가 하겠습니다.
I’ll do it.
Related soft offers also use -ㄹ게요 (제가 할게요). That is a sibling pattern, not a replacement for learning -겠-.
Do not invent weather
When you practise forecast sentences, open a real board and plug in today’s numbers. The grammar is the frame; the numbers are not homework fiction. See also How to Read a Korean Weather Forecast.
Looking out the window and noticing the rain — 비가 오네요 — is a different ending. That is -네 / -네요, not -겠-.
Taught alongside this
In the Sejong course this appears in 비가 너무 많이 오네요 — Sejong Korean 2, Unit 1, on the theme of 날씨. These come with it:
Words used above
Quick check
No sign-up, no score saved — just see if it stuck.
1. In 비가 오겠습니다, what is -겠- mainly doing?
2. Which is the better default for 'I'm going to Busan tomorrow' as a settled plan?
3. What does 맛있겠어요 usually express?
Common questions
Is -겠- the Korean future tense?
Korean does not have one future tense the way English textbooks imply. -겠- is one tool for later-time talk, mainly judgement and intention. -(으)ㄹ 거예요 and even plain present handle other futures.
Why is there no separate Sejong slot for -(으)ㄹ 거예요?
It is taught early in the books, but it does not appear as its own grammar line on the official tables we mapped. This page and the future-tense post cover the contrast learners need anyway.
Is 알겠습니다 a weather ending?
No. It is a fixed polite acknowledgement — 'understood.' Learn it as a chunk.
Where will I see -겠- most as a beginner?
Weather and news-style outlooks (오겠습니다), soft guesses (아프겠어요), and formal resolve (열심히 하겠습니다).
Seen in the wild
Lessons where this pattern showed up in real Korean — news, slang, drama lines.
Korean Future Tense: -겠-, -(으)ㄹ 거예요, and Present
English has will. Korean spreads 'later' across -겠-, -(으)ㄹ 거예요, and plain present. Here is which stance each one takes — including why -(으)ㄹ 거예요 has no Sejong slot.
How to Read a Korean Weather Forecast
Korean forecasts reuse the same frames every day. Learn -겠- in 비가 오겠습니다, plus temperature, rain chance and fine-dust words, without inventing today's weather.