Learn Future Simple Tense | Basic English Grammar Course

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In this video, I will introduce the future simple tense

using 'will' and 'be going to'.

This is a very important tense that will help you express future actions and plans.

There's a lot to learn, so let's get started.

The future simple tense can be used to express a future action.

Let's take a look at some examples.

‘I'm cold.’

Well that's right now.

‘I will close the window.’

We start with the subject ‘will’.

And then, the base verb.

‘I will close the window.’

In this example, I'm making a sudden decision because how I feel right now.

I will close the window because I'm cold right now.

‘I will be at the library tomorrow.’

Again, you start with the subject and then ‘will’.

After that, you have the base verb.

You can use the ‘be’ verb to talk about a confirmed plan.

‘I will be at the library tomorrow.’

The economy will get better next year.

In this case, the subject is ‘the economy’.

Again, we follow with ‘will’ and the base verb ‘get’.

‘The economy will get better next year.’

I'm making a prediction here about something that will happen in the future.

And finally, ‘I will help you with your homework.’

I'm making a future plan to help you.

‘I will help you with your homework.’

It doesn't say when but I am talking about the future.

You can also use ‘be going to’ to express a future action.

It's almost the same as ‘will’.

Here are some examples.

‘There's no milk.

I'm going to buy some.’

So what you see here is the subject and then the ‘be’ verb - ‘am’.

‘I am’

And then here we used a contraction ‘I'm’.

‘I'm going to buy some.’

I made a decision to buy some because there's no milk.

The next sentence says, ‘It looks like it's going to snow tomorrow.’

Here the subject is ‘it’ and so I use the ‘be’ verb – ‘is’.

‘it is’

‘It's’ is the contraction.

‘It's going to’ And then we use the base verb ‘snow’.

The word ‘tomorrow’ shows that this is a future action.

‘He's going to take a trip in the summer.’

Because the subject is ‘he’, we use the ‘be’ verb – is.

And we can use the contraction ‘he's’. ‘he is’ or ‘he's’ going to

And then the base verb ‘take’

‘take a trip in the summer’

Again an action happening in the future.

Now, let's take a look at the negative form of the future simple tense.

The first example says, ‘Stan will not like his English score.’

No matter what the subject is, we follow with ‘will not’ and then the

base form of the verb.

‘Stan will not like his English score.’

‘We won't give you money anymore.’

In this case, the subject is ‘we’.

And we follow with the contraction ‘won't’.

It sounds really different and it's different from other contractions,

but ‘won't’ is the contraction for ‘will not’

so you can say ‘we will not’ or ‘we won't’.

They're the same.

‘We won't give you money anymore.’

Again, you notice the base verb ‘give’ after ‘not’.

‘He is not going to fly until next week.’

This sentence uses ‘be going to’.

The subject is ‘he’.

And therefore the ‘be’ verb we use is – ‘is’

However we put a ‘not’ after the ‘be’ verb.

‘He is not going to …’ And then the base verb.

‘He is not going to fly until next week.’

The last sentence says, ‘You are not going to go to the party tonight.’

The subject is ‘you’ and so we use the ‘be’ verb – ‘are’.

‘You are not going to go …’ That's the base verb.

‘… to the party tonight.’

Now let's take a look at how to form basic questions in the future simple tense.

The first sentence says, ‘He will play with us.’

To turn this into a question, all we have to do is change the order of the

first two words.

So ‘He will becomes ‘Will he’.

‘Will he play with us?’

‘The next sentence says, ‘He is going to play with us.’

This one uses ‘be going to’.

The subject is ‘he’.

And so the ‘be’ verb to use is – ‘is’.

Then we have ‘going to’ and then the base verb.

‘He is going to play with us.’

When I make a question, I simply again change the order of the first two words.

‘Is he going to play with us?’

Now if the subject were to be ‘you’ or ‘we’ or ‘they’,

we would say ‘they are’.

And so the question would say, ‘Are they'.

'Are they going to play with them?’

So again, remember, for ‘will’ in the future simple tense,

just say ‘will’ subject and then the base form of the verb.

However for ‘be going to’ questions, make sure that you pay attention to the proper

'be' verb to use at the beginning of the question.

To answer the first question, ‘Will he play with us?’

You can say ‘Yes, he will’ or ‘No, he won't’.

‘Is he going to play with us?’

You can say, ‘Yes, he's going to’ or ‘No, he isn't going to’.

Let's look at how to form ‘WH’ questions in the future simple tense.

If you notice each question begins with a ‘WH’ word.

The first two sentences use ‘will’ for the future simple tense.

‘Who will win the game?’

To answer I can say, ‘My team will win the game.’

‘When will they arrive?’

‘They will arrive in two hours.’

Now these two sentences have ‘be going to’.

‘Where is he going to study?’

In this case, I have the ‘be’ verb – ‘is’ because the subject is ‘he’.

‘Where is he going to study?’

I can say, ‘He is going to study at the library.’

And finally, ‘What are you going to do?’

In this case, I use the ‘be’ verb – ‘are’ because the subject is ‘you’.

‘What are you going to do?’

‘I am going to take a shower.’

Great job, everyone.

You now have a better understanding of the future simple tense.

There's still a lot of practice you need to do because this tense is so important.

Keep studying and I'll see you in the next video.