The English Simple Future Tense: A Complete Guide

The English Simple future tense is one of the most used tenses in English, so it is important that you understand it. Luckily, I am here to help you. This tense is also sometimes called the future indefinite tense.

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When to Use the Simple Future Tense

We use this tense in the following scenarios:

1. When talking about actions that will start and end in the future.
2. Predicting things about the future.
3. Asking questions about the future.
4. Stating facts about the future.
5. When talking about possibilities for the future.
6. Giving commands.

Simple Future Tense Signal Words

The following words are words that tell us that we have to use the simple future tense. They are also sometimes called time words.

• tomorrow
• soon
• shortly
• next week
• next month
• next year

How to Form the Simple Future Tense in English

There are two forms of the English future tense. The first is with “will” and the other with “be going to”.

The difference between the two is that “be going to” is used when our plans are definite and “will” is for wishes or something spontaneous.

Using “will”

First things first, remember that the subject of a sentence is the one doing the action. Also, the first column verb is the root form of the verb. It is also the one that we use in the simple present tense.

The basic recipe for this form of the future tense is:

SUBJECT + WILL + FIRST COLUMN VERB + REST OF THE SENTENCE

So, the cool thing about this form of the future indefinite tense is that you don’t have to conjugate at all. This means that you don’t have to know where to add an “-s” to the end of the verb or anything, which, makes it a lot easier.

Here are some examples:

Ann will eat the cake tomorrow.

I will go to work next week.

They will run a marathon next weekend.

Using “be going to”

In this from of the simple future tense, you will unfortunately have to conjugate “to be”, but at least it is only one verb in the entire tense. That’s not too bad, is it? Here is a recap of how “to be” is conjugated:

Okay, so here is the recipe for this form of the tense:

SUBJECT + AM/IS/ARE + GOING TO + FIRST COLUMN VERB + REST OF THE SENTENCE

Take a look at these examples:

Mary is going to go to school tomorrow.

The boys is going to go to swim practise tomorrow.

Negative Sentences

Negatives in the Future Tense When Using “will”

Making sentences negative in this form of the simple future tense is quite easy; you just add “not” after “will”. Here is the recipe:

SUBJECT + WILL + NOT + REST OF THE SENTENCE

Take a look at these examples:

She will not be at the concert next week.

They will not go to school tomorrow.

Furthermore, we can contract not. Unlike in some of the other tenses, we cannot simply add “-n’t” to the end of “will”. Instead, we use “won’t”. Here are some examples:

Mark won’t eat that.

The children won’t sleep at school.

Sentences With “be going to” in the Negative

Here, you have to add “not” after the conjugated form of “to be”. Here is the recipe:

SUBJECT + BE + NOT + GOING TO + FIRST COLUMN VERB + REST OF THE SENTENCE

Look at these examples:

Bob is not going to go to the movies with us.

The men are not going to go to a restaurant tomorrow night.

I am not going to go to the beach this holiday.

Future Tense Questions

“Yes” or “No” Questions

“No” and “Yes” Questions With “will”

When we are using will in a “yes” or “no” question, the question starts with “will”. Here is the sentence structure for that:

WILL + SUBJECT + FISRT COLUMN VERB + REST OF THE QUESTION?

Here are some examples:

Will you do your homework this afternoon?

Will Ann go to the movies tonight?

Using “be going to” and “Yes” or “No” Questions

If you ask a question using “be going to”, you use the following recipe:

AM/IS/ARE + SUBJECT + GOING TO + FIRST COLUMN VERB + REST OF THE QUESTION?

Take a look at these examples:

Are you going to go to university after school?

Is Ann going to the beach for the holidays?

Questions With Question Words

We use question words at the start of a question. These include all the “wh-” question words as well as “how”. Here is a list with these words:

Questions with Question Words in the English Simple Future Tense

When we ask questions with question words, the sentence structure is pretty much the same as for “yes” and “no” questions. In these cases you simply add a question word to the start too. This is true for questions with “will” and “be going to”.

Here are a few examples:

Where are you going to go to university?

What time will Ken come to the party tonight?

Using “in”

When we want to say that something will happen after a certain amount of time, we use the word “in” before the time frame. For example, if we say “Ben’s sister is going to come visit him in two months”, we mean that Ben’s sister will come two months after today.

The English Simple Future Tense Final Thoughts

I hope that I managed to help you understand the future tense a little bit better. If you have any questions, please leave a comment below.

xoxo,
Charlé

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