Using سَ and سَوْفَ

The Present tense Arabic (اَلْفِعْلُ الْمُضَارِعُ) includes both present and future tense. Deciding whether to translate as present or future tense may depend on the context.

However, a present tense فِعْلٌ can be forced into the future tense only by using the harfs (حُرُوفٌ) سَ and سَوْفَ.

سَ

This حَرْفٌ is attached to اَلْفِعْلُ الْمُضَارِعُ, for example:

Quran ExampleTranslation
سَيَقُولُ ٱلسُّفَهَآءُ مِنَ ٱلنَّاسِ مَا وَلَّىٰهُمْ عَن قِبْلَتِهِمُ ٱلَّتِى كَانُوا۟ عَلَيْهَا
……[2:142]		The foolish among the people will say…

سَوْفَ

This حَرْفٌ is the same as سَ, however سَ is closer in the future than سَوْفَ. In addition سَوْفَ is not attached to the فِعْلٌ, but can be attached to other harfs (حُرُوفٌ), for example:

Quran ExampleTranslation
إِن كَادَ لَيُضِلُّنَا عَنْ ءَالِهَتِنَا لَوْلَآ أَن صَبَرْنَا عَلَيْهَا ۚ وَسَوْفَ يَعْلَمُونَ حِينَ يَرَوْنَ ٱلْعَذَابَ مَنْ أَضَلُّ سَبِيلًا
[25:42]		He would have almost tricked us away from our gods, had we not been so devoted to them. But soon they will know, when they face the punishment, who is far astray from the Right Way.
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