Tip: use www.wordreference.com to conjugate verbs or translate a tricky word.
Future Simple
The future simple is fairly easy to make, and it’s very useful. English speakers use this tense (both the will and going to forms) often in everyday life, since it’s used to talk about plans, thoughts, and beliefs about the future. This is an important tense to master as an intermediate learner.
- Signal Words
- General future words: tomorrow, next week/month/year, in 2025
- Opinions/thoughts about the future: I think, I believe
Structure 1 Will-Future
will + infinitive
- Use
- Predictions or assumptions about fairly certain events in the future
- Future actions that happen without the speaker’s intention or without the speaker doing anything
- When you decide to do something at the time of speaking (spontaneously), you did not make the decision before
- Affirmative
- Our team will win the game next week.
- The sun will rise tomorrow. (very certain event)
- Negative
- I won’t (will not) help you today, sorry. (decided in that moment)
- The Mariner’s (a baseball team) definitely won’t (will not) win tonight.
- Question
- Will you go to the party with me next weekend?
- What will you do after you finish university?
Structure 2 Going to-Future
to be (am/are/is) + going to + infinitive
- Use
- Planned actions in the future
- When you are certain the action is going to happen, stating a logical consequence to an action (That car is going to crash!)
- Your opinion, when you think something will happen in the future (it’s probably going to rain tomorrow)
- Affirmative
- I’m going to eat lunch at 12pm. (said in the morning)
- He’s going to play guitar for us tomorrow night.
- Negative
- She isn’t (is not) going to run tomorrow.
- They aren’t (are not) going to work this summer.
- Question
- Are you going to call me later?
- Is she going to write a book someday?
Tip
Sometimes we can use either the will-future or the going to-future and the meaning is the same, but there are differences. See this post for more examples of the difference, and notice how it is used when you read or listen to content in English.
Practice Exercies
Future Continuous
The future continuous tense (sometimes called future progressive) isn’t always taught in English classes but English speakers use it a lot. You will sound more natural if you learn how to use this tense correctly.
- Signal Words
- General future words: tomorrow, next week/month/year, in 2025
- Use
- Describe an ongoing activity in the future
- Future as a matter of course: to talk about an action in the future that will happen if everything else goes as you expect. (The president will be giving a speech tomorrow.)
- Structure
- will + be + infinitive + ing
- Affirmative
- He’ll be staying at my house tonight.
- They’ll be doing their homework after school.
- Negative
- She won’t (will not) be playing basketball next weekend.
- They will not be living in Thailand next year.
- Question
- Will you be coming to my party tomorrow night?
- Will he be travelling in August?
Other Uses
- I’ll be waiting when you arrive. (overlapping actions: with when + present simple)
- At 7pm I’ll be eating dinner. (overlapping actions: time)
Practice Exercises
Future Perfect
The future perfect tense is only used in a few situations, but for advanced students it’s good to know it. I suggest focusing on understanding the tense when you read or hear it. In conversation you can use the future simple or continuous instead.
- Signal Words
- by
- for
- Use
- To talk about an action that will finish before a certain time in the future (usually with “by”)
- To describe how long, the duration of an action that started in the past, and will continue to a certain point in the future (usually with “for”) Often used to make the ‘how long’, the duration an easier time to say.
- Structure
- will + have + past participle
- Affirmative
- She’ll have (she will have) finished her homework by 10pm this evening.
- On Tuesday, I’ll have lived here for one year.
- Negative
- They won’t have (will not have) finished cooking dinner by the time the guests arrive.
- I won’t have worked found a job before I graduate university.
- Question
- When will I have finished this book? (emphasizes the duration of time/specific date more than the simple future “When will I finish this book?”)
- Do you think he will have finally quit his job by this time next year?
More Examples
- When we get married, I’ll have known Robert for four years.
- At 4 o’clock, I’ll have been in this office for 24 hours.
- By the time I’m sixty, I will have retired.
Practice Exercises
Future Perfect Continuous
This tense isn’t used very often in English and it’s a little complicated. However, at advanced levels it’s great to understand it. It has a very precise meaning, which can be useful.
- Signal Words
- for + length of time
- when or by the time
- Use
- To show how long an action will continue for up to a certain time or action in the future.
- Just like with the future perfect, we can use this tense + a date for easier numbers.
- Structure
- will + have + been + infinitive + ing
- Affirmative
- In April, she will have been teaching for five years.
- By the time you arrive, we’ll have been cooking for hours!
- Negative
- He will not have been studying for long before he starts to get bored.
- They won’t have been waiting outside when the train finally arrives.
- Question
- How long will they have been travelling by the time they finally come home?
- Will he have been sleeping by the time we finally get there?
Practice Exercises