We have a few different future tenses in English, and you might sometimes get confused about how and when to use them all.
In general, we have five different structures to talk about the future in English:
The Present Continuous
Be going to
The Future Simple – Will
The Future Continuous
The Future Perfect
But how do you know when to use which one? I mean, we have three different ways to talk about future plans! So it makes sense if you mix them up sometimes!
That’s why we’re going to break down all the future tenses today, and talk about the differences between all of them.
The main differences we’ll explore are how we:
Use the present continuous for arrangements and fixed plans
Use
be going to for talking about an intention or general plan
Use
will, the future simple, for talking about a spontaneous decision
Use the future continuous for things we will be doing at a specific time
Use the future perfect for things we will have done at a specific time
Of course, you know English is a sneaky language, and there are a few more differences and uses for each of these as well. But don’t worry! We’ll be exploring those, too. So, let’s get started!
Talking About the Future in English
1. The Present Continuous for Plans
We can use the present continuous with a time in the future when we want to talk about plans that we’ve already made.
We often add a future time marker so that it’s clear that we’re talking about the future.
Examples
I’m meeting him at five tomorrow.
He’s making lasagna for dinner tonight.
They’re leaving town next weekend.
Sometimes the future is already implied, in this case we don’t need to add a future time marker.
Examples
Are you coming to the concert?
She’s just going to the washroom. She’ll be back in a minute.
Commands and refusals
When we want to insist that people do or not do things, we can use the present continuous.
Examples
He’s not wearing that shirt to school!
I’m sorry – you’re not borrowing my bike.
We can also use this when someone invites us to do something, and we have to say no because of our plans.
Examples
Question: Do you want to hang out tonight?
Answer: (I can’t.) I’m meeting with my English teacher tonight.
Question: We’re seeing that new movie tonight. Wanna come?
Answer: I’m helping my mom clean her house.
2. Be going to
We can also use going to to talk about future plans. But there’s a slight difference between going to and the present continuous tense.
Talking about an intention or general plan
The main difference between
going to and the present continuous is: have you made a specific arrangement yet?
So, we can use the present continuous when we have plans that we’ve already arranged. We don’t use it if we haven’t made a definite arrangement yet.
But we use
going to when we have already made the decision or have the intention to do something, but we might not have made the plans or arrangements yet.
Compare
Who’s cooking dinner? (emphasis is on plans already arranged)
Who’s going to cook dinner? (No plans yet/asking for a decision)
She’s really going to stop talking to him. (emphasis is on the intention)
Making a prediction based on evidence
We can also use
going to when we predict what is going to happen based on evidence that we have right now. We don’t use the present continuous in this context.
Examples
The sky looks dark. It’s going to rain soon.
The sky looks dark. It’s raining soon.
You look pale. I think you’re going to be sick.
We often use
going to when something is about to happen right now, especially if the situation is dangerous. In this case, we often use the more informal
gonna instead of
going to.
Examples
The ladder’s shaking. He’s gonna fall!
Your shoelaces are untied. You’re gonna trip!
You should also read
5 Simple Grammar Changes for More Natural English to see how you can use these and other tenses to sound more fluent in English.