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Answer: We will try to keep the dikduk as simple as we can. Indeed, in third person singular (he/him), nehiya is past (all came to be by His word) (see Devarim 4:32), and nehiyeh is present (all comes to be …). (In first person plural (we), nehiyeh is future (we will be)). The question is whether we want to use the language of past or present
We can seek precedent from other berachot. The gemarot regarding Hamotzi (Berachot 38a) and Borei Meorei Ha’esh (ibid. 52b) assume that we want these berachot to focus on the past. Rashi explains – the bread we are about to eat was already extracted from the soil. One can say the same thing about Shehakol – the chicken or candy I am eating was produced in the past. Rav Yaakov Emden (Mor U’ktzia, OC 167) goes a step further, claiming that the "all" that Shehakol refers to is broad, and that generally things came into existence at Creation, even if the specific food we will eat is relatively recent. Indeed, a majority of poskim (see Shaarei Teshuva 204:20) and of practice (survey of sources, siddurim and people) is as you have done – "nehiya."
However, significant logic and a sizable minority of sources support "nehiyeh." The Chochmat Manoach (Berachot 38a; cited by the Magen Avraham167:8) points out that most berachot employ a present tense verb (see below) at the end of almost all berachot (even those that focus mainly on the past). Take birkat hatorah as one of many examples. We speak of bachar banu … v’natan lanu (past tense references to matan Torah) but end off "… noten hatorah (noten is present tense – gives/is giving). Therefore, he and the Me’il Tzedaka (42) advocate saying nehiyeh. The Me’il Tzedaka’s and Magen Avraham’s final positions are not clear. One can also take issue with Rav Yaakov Emden’s chiddush that Shehakol focuses on Creation. Why should all other birchot hanehenin focus on the specific food and this one focus on Creation? It is more likely that we use general terminology for specific foods that do not fit into a specific category. Regarding Talmudic precedent, the Magen Avraham also cites a Yerushalmi (Berachot 8:5) that one should not learn from Borei Meorei Ha’esh because the language should be appropriate for commemorating the original creation of fire. Regarding Hamotzi, the Beit Yosef (OC 167) knew a version of the gemara that Hamotzi is in the present, and the Me’il Tzedaka explains our text as just wanting to avoid future tense, but these positions are of a small minority.
What do we do with the gemara’s contention that Hamotzi uses past tense? Don’t we know from "Dikduk 101" that hotzi is past, motzi is present , and yotzi is future?! The answer is that "Hamotzi," and "Borei," … in various berachot are not verbs but nouns. We are giving Hashem the title of "the extractor" of bread, "the creator" of foods, ... In Hebrew, the noun/title is formed by using a present verb form. Now, one can earn a title by what he did in the past, is doing in the present, or will do in the future (or any combination of them). The gemara posits that the title must be compatible with the past tense. In contrast, in Shehakol, "nehiya" is not a title but a real verb. Therefore, if one uses the present tense, he is stressing the present (much more than borei does), which the gemara seems to object to.
Bemare Habazak - Rabbis Questions (657)
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601 - Ask the Rabbi: Chanuka Lighting Soon Before Leaving House
602 - Ask the Rabbi: Right Pronunciation of Shehakol
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