The Future Simple Tense

There are many ways to express the future in English, but the one which is used at the beginner to high beginner level and even sometimes above, is 'the future simple tense'.

This tense is used to talk about any time 'after now' or 'the time we are speaking'. We can also add a future 'time' to make our sentences more accurate.

Just the same as the past simple, we can use the simple future with or without time.

The simple future
The simple future

"The simple future (or future simple) tense talks about any time 'after now'.

The structure is:   The subject + 'will' + the simple verb.

Eg:  I will go out later.  (Will is also a modal verb, which is used to express the future. If you do not know modal verbs there is a lesson on modal verbs in this course).

For negative sentences we use: The subject + will not(won't) + simple verb.

For questions we use:  Will + The subject + simple verb? 

I will have lunch at 5pm. (statement)

I won't go to the park today. (negative)

Will you pass the pepper please? (question)

Will is used in several ways to express certain things.

Promises -  "I promise I will pay you back next week"

Sureness -  " I will be in class tomorrow"

Unplanned action -  "Don't worry, I will help you" (The phone is ringing) " I will get it"

Predictions  -  "There will be a female President in the USA within 10 years"

'I think'  - "She thinks that her essay won't be very good"

Predictions (without any information) "It will rain tomorrow"

Rules to remember when using will.

  1. - Because it is a modal verb we have to use a simple verb after.
  2. - The verb after, which is the main verb, does not have -s or -es.
  3. - As seen in the examples above, the main verb has no endings.

The other main way to use the future in English is "be going to"

This is mainly used for 'planned actions'  We make a plan, then we do it.

"I am going to Australia next month"  (I plan my trip, pay for it, then I go).

"I am going to stop eating too much"  (I make a plan then do it).

'Will' statements
'Will' questions
'Be going to'

In some cases we can use both the 'will' and the 'be going to' forms to talk about the same thing.  These are usually things which are a long way away and also opinion.

Example:

"I think that he will be successful one day"

"I think that he is going to be successful one day"

 

These 2 sentences both have the same meaning grammatically.

 

This is the end of the lesson.

Thank you.