Future Tenses in English: WATCH THIS to Finally Learn How to Use Them (LOTS OF EXAMPLES) 😀

Try and notice which tenses I use in the

following: my sister is coming tonight.

She gets in at 5:10. I'm picking her

up and then we're going to get dinner.

I used three different tenses there to

talk about the future and we're going to

talk about each one right now. The first

thing I said was this: my sister is

coming tonight. My sister is coming

tonight. Now, which tense is this? It is

the present continuous. We tend to use

the present continuous when talking

about the future when we're talking

about future arrangements - when we have

something planned and fixed. I said my

sister is coming tonight because she

already has plane tickets. This has been

arranged. So, that is why I used this

tense. You might have also noticed that i

said: I'm picking her up. I'm picking her

up.

This simply means that I'm going to drive to

the airport and collect her, but again, I

used the present continuous because this

is fixed. I have arranged this with my

sister. I actually arranged it through

WhatsApp. Here are two more examples to

help you understand how to use the

present continuous when talking about

the future. The first one is this: Paul is

working tonight. Paul is working tonight.

So, this means he has arranged to work or

maybe his boss told him that he had to

work but regardless, this is a fixed plan.

He has to start at a specific time and

that's why he's saying: I'm working

tonight. Here's another one: we're having

dinner with friends on Friday. So, again

this is an arrangement. We spoke to our

friends and we have arranged to have

dinner - it's a fixed plan.

We're going to look at some more examples in a moment

and how this compares with another tense

that we use to talk about the future

but you'll also notice that I said: she

gets in at 5:10. She gets in at 5:10

Now, what tense is that? What tense

am I using here? It is the present simple.

The present simple. So, we can use the

present simple to talk about the future

too. Now, this one is more specific to

certain things and we use it when we're

talking about things on a timetable or

on as scheduled. Flights are a perfect

example of this: her flight gets in at 5:10 It's on a timetable - it's on a

flight schedule, so, we can use the

present simple to talk about it in this

way. Another example is that you might

hear the owner of a coffee shop or a

restaurant or anything really saying

that we open tomorrow at 7:30 AM. wWe open

tomorrow at 7:30 AM. This is on a schedule

and that's why we can use the simple

present here. Another example is: the

movie starts at eight. The movie starts

at eight. So again, movies are on a

timetable and a schedule. This movie

starts at eight o'clock. It's the same

time for everyone. You can't change this.

So, the movie starts at eight. Be careful

when using this tense because it is only

used for this specific reason. Let's have

a look at the third tense now. At the

start of the video, I also said: we're

going to get dinner. We're going to get

dinner. Now, to get dinner means to eat

out it - suggests that you're going to

either eat out or pick up some food

somewhere. So, after I pick my sister up,

we're going to get dinner .So, here I used

the phrase: be going to. Be going to.

And this is a great phrase to know in

English because speakers use it all the

time. It's such a common phrase and it's

probably the most common way to talk

about the future. And we use this when we

want to show intention. This is an

important word: intention. It can be used

for fixed plans - like the present

continuous - but it usually puts the focus

on intention. Right now, my sister and I

don't have any fixed plans. We're not

sure where we're going to go to get

dinner. We're not sure at what time we're

going to eat. That's why I used going to.

We have the intention to get dinner

somewhere but we don't have fixed plans

right now. Another example of this is

something I see in my emails from

English learners is this: I'm going to

take the IELTS exam this summer. I'm

going to take the IELTS exam this summer.

Now, this shows the intention of the

speaker. This learner is going to take

the IELTS exam this summer. They have the

intention to do this. However, if you say:

I'm taking the IELTS exam this summer -

using the present continuous - this

suggests that you already have a fixed

date.

So, you can see the difference there... be

going to shows your intention. You don't

have that fixed date yet and that's what

it suggests. But when you use the present

continuous, it suggests that you already

have a date and a time for the exam.

Another example of be going to is this:

we're going to visit my wife's family

this spring. We're going to visit my

wife's family this spring.

I'm using going to because we don't have

any fixed plans yet. We intend to go. This

is our intention, but we haven't arranged

something specific. That's why we're

using be going to. And one more, and this

is an important one to know. I'm going to

clean the house before my sister arrives.

And with activities like housework

studying etc., we tend to use going to. So,

with activities ,we tend to use going to.

For example: Sarah can't make it to the

party because she's going to study for

her exam. So, when using study or clean -

those types of verbs - try to use be going

to. In most cases, it will be correct. So,

that is an overview of how to use be

going to, the simple present and the

present continuous to talk about the

future. But just knowing this isn't

enough. You need to get lots of practice.

So, what I recommend you do is that when

you see an example of one of these

tenses, then use the sentence method to

help you get the repetition, so that you

can internalize the use of these tenses.

And to learn more about the sentence

method, just click over here: I have a

free guide for you. Now, if you've watched

this far, then please give this video a

thumbs up and share it with one of your

friends. And feel free to leave an

example below using one of the tenses.

I'll have more examples in the

description. Thank you so much for

watching - it's great to have you here and

I'll speak to you soon.