Learn English Tenses: FUTURE with “GOING TO” & Present Continuous

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In this class, you will learn two common ways to talk about the future in English.

The first way is by using the words "going to".

This is not a tense, it's just a phrase, an expression that we use to talk about the future.

The second way is by using the present continuous.

This is a tense and it's used not only for the present but also to talk about the future,

and we will see exactly how to do that.

Now, this class is part of a series created by www.engvid.com to help you learn all of

the English verb tenses so you can talk about the past, the present, and the future, okay?

So, what is the future?

The future is anytime after now, okay?

So, if this is now, and that's the past, then anything after now, anything after the present

It could be five minutes from now, it could be years from now, it could be many years

from now, okay?

But anything after now is the future, and in English, we have many ways and tenses to

talk about this time.

Some are more basic ways and some are more advanced ways, okay?

Some are more basic tenses and some are more advanced tenses, but for now, everything you

learn in this class you can use right away in regular conversation and regular communication.

So, let's get started.

So, when we're talking about the future, you can think about it in a few different ways.

The first way to think about it is - is this some kind of formal situation, or is it an

informal situation?

Formal means more official, maybe more businesslike, with people you don't really know very well,

so you have to be very formal and proper.

In that situation, in English, to talk about the future, we have one way, which is by using

the word "will", which is the future simple tense.

I have a separate class just on that, so you can learn that also if you haven't already.

Next, what if it's an informal situation?

Informal means it's not so - it's not formal.

It's more casual, it's more casual, it's more friendly, it's with people that you probably

know quite well, okay?

And it could be when you're speaking to them, it could be when you're writing an informal

email or texting or something like that, okay?

So, what happens in those situations?

In those situations, we have to look at whether something is planned in advance or whether

it is unplanned, okay?

Now, I know you're thinking "Really, I have to think about that?"

Yeah, a little bit, but it's easy.

Let me show you how.

So, in the informal situation, if you know in advance that you're going to do something,

then that is something planned.

If you don't know in advance that you're going to do something and you just decide that that

moment, that is unplanned.

So, if it's unplanned, then we just, again, use "will" or future simple, alright?

So, that's done.

But in this class, we're focusing on this part here.

So, if you know in advance that you're going to do something tomorrow, this weekend, next

month, next year, that's planned.

So, you have two options of how to communicate that.

You could use "going to", or you can use the present continuous tense.

If you use "going to", for example, your sentence would be something like this, but before I

give you the sentence, let's imagine what somebody might be asking you, okay?

So, let's suppose somebody asks you "What are you planning to do on Sunday?" or "What

are you doing on Sunday?".

You might say, and because you have the plan already, you might say "I'm going to visit

my family on Sunday.", see how we're using "going to"?

Because you have already decided that.

You've told your family, they're making dinner, everybody's expecting you, this is a plan,

you know in advance, so you say, "I'm going to visit my family on Sunday.".

This "going to" tells us it's a plan, that it's going to happen in the future, all of

Or, you could say the same thing in another way by using the present continuous tense.

You could simply say "I'm visiting my family on Sunday.".

That's the second way, alright?

So, this is what we will focus on in this class.

Now, let's look at when to use these two ways to talk about the future.

So, the most important thing to remember, as I said, is that we use them in informal

Informal communication, spoken or written.

Now, informal doesn't have to mean only social situations, it can also be at work with your

colleagues and so on, or with your clients if they're good friends of yours, we still

speak informally even at work.

And the other point is that they should be planned situations, okay, not something that

you just decide, but something where you have made a plan in advance.

Those are the two critical points to remember, but let's look at some situations in which

this might actually happen.

So, when you're talking about arrangements, you have to make them in advance, right?

So, for example, you could say "We're going to meet at the mall.", so here we have an

example of using "going to", right?

Going to meet, in this case, alright?

Or, for intentions, something you plan to do, something you wish you could do, something

you want to do, you intend to do it, okay?

It means you have a plan to do it, basically.

For example: I'm going to exercise every day.

Or, I'm going to study English every day.

Whatever your intention is, okay?

So again, we see "I'm going to exercise", okay?

These are some examples with "going to" and then we'll look at some examples with the

other way, the present continuous, but really, I could say this using present continuous,

and I could say these using "going to", it doesn't matter because they're both used in

Let's look at another situation when you're making a prediction, when you're going to

say what is going to happen, what is likely to happen, what is probably going to happen.

For example, you've watched a lot of weather reports and everybody's saying there's going

to be a lot of rain tomorrow, so you could say "It's going to rain tomorrow.", right?

It's like a prediction, still we don't know 100% until tomorrow comes, whether that will

happen, so it's a prediction.

So, we can use it in that situation.

And this is when you're just telling, you know, your family or someone, "Oh, it's going

to rain tomorrow so, you know, do this, do that, make sure to take your umbrella.", so

it's still an informal situation.

Then, of course, for any kind of planned events - so, you're telling your friends, for example:

We're flying to Lisbon in July.

Now here, we have present continuous, right?

We could say "We're going to fly", but we're just saying "We're flying" because we're using

present continuous now.

Now, what's important here?

Because this is the present continuous tense, right, "We're flying", and if I only said,

"We're flying to Lisbon", then that would be talking about the present.

So, when we use present continuous to talk about the future, you have to have a part

like this, a time marker that shows that this is going to happen in the future and it's

not happening right now because if I just said "We're flying to Lisbon", it would mean

right now, but if I say "We're flying to Lisbon in July.", that's in the future.

We're flying to Lisbon next week, next month, next summer, next year.

As long as I say something like that and add a time phrase or expression or a marker with

the present continuous, then you can use it freely to talk about something informal or

something planned in the future.

We'll be looking at that a little bit more as we go along.

Here's another example of something - a planned event.

You could say oh, "They're having a party on Saturday night."

So, we have our important parts, "They're having", we can use "have" in this context

to talk about an event, we can use it in that continuous form to talk about an event, they're

having a party and then again, "on Saturday night", so we have our time marker to indicate

that this is happening in the future.

So, these are the important ways and times when you can use this - these two ways, alright?

And remember, we can flip them around.

So, I could have said here "We're going to fly to Lisbon in July.", and I could have

said here "We're meeting at the mall tomorrow.", okay?

If I'm using present continuous, I'll need to add something, but use it for all these

Now, let's look at the structure for "going to".

We will look at positive sentences, negative sentences, and also questions.

So, our basic structure is like this: we have our subject, which means what?

I, You, We, They, etc., the verb "to be" + "going to" + the base form of the verb.

So, for example, if our example verb is "to work", the base form of the verb is just "work".

If the verb was "to sleep", the base form is just "sleep", okay?

So, another important point to keep in mind when you're forming this kind of sentence

is in the positive sentences and the negative sentences, we don't use the full form.

We don't say "I am going to work."

Because it's too artificial and it's too formal.

It's - this is an informal situation, right?

We're using it in informal context, so we use the contraction.

Instead of saying "I am", we say "I'm".

Instead of saying "You are", we say "You're", and then we say the rest of it, okay?

So, you're kind of contracting these two parts, alright?

So, say it after me, it's easy, and later I will show you exactly how to form these

The first one: I'm going to work.

You're going to work.

We're going to work.

They're going to work.

He's going to work, She's going to work, and It's going to work.

You'll see that these are all "you are, we are, they are", these are all contractions

for "he is, she is, it is", okay?

Now, if we make it negative, it's very easy, we're just adding the word "not".

I'm not going to work tomorrow.

He's not going to work.

They're not going to work.

So, that's one way.

You keep this contracted version and just add that.

I'll show you another way soon.

If you have a question, what do we do?

We change the order, right?

We reverse the order, instead of saying "I am", we say, "Am I?" and now we see the full

form of the verb "to be" here.

Here, there are no contractions, okay?

Am I going to work tomorrow?

Are you going to work tomorrow?

Are we going to work?

Are they going to work?

Is he going to work?

Is she going to work?

Is it going to work?

Like the computer, or something, alright?

So, another thing to keep in mind when you're forming the question is you can add a question

word before that, or a question phrase.

You could say: When are you going to work?

Where are you going to work?

How long are you going to work?

But if you do that, make sure you keep this construction.

Don't change this order.

Say "When are you going to work?".

Keep the same structure, okay?

And that's basically all you need to do to use "going to" for the future.

Now, let's look at the structure of the present continuous tense when used for the future.

If you've been following our series on English tenses, then you may have already learned

this, but in any case, let's review.

So, our basic structure is like this: we have the subject, I, You, We, They, etc., + the

verb "to be", then the base form of the verb and then "-ing" and to all of that, we have

to add a time marker like next week, next month, next year, on Monday, and so on, okay?

Now, this time marker often comes at the end, but sometimes it can also come at the beginning.

The most important thing is that you need to have that time marker as well, okay?

Otherwise, it will just be present continuous, and they'll be talking about the present,

but you want to use this to talk about the future, so let's see how it works.

Now, again, you'll see here not the full form of "I am", but the contraction.

Because again, we use this particular tense to talk about the future in informal situations.

Informal conversations, informal writing, correct?

So, we don't want to use the full form "I am working next week", we just say "I'm working

Say it after me: You're working next week.

We're working next week.

They're working next week.

All of these were with "are", right?

You are, they are, we are, like that.

These are all with "is".

He's working next week.

She's working next week.

Let's say It's working next week.

So, it doesn't have to, of course, be next week, it could be any time marker, I just

put that here so that you will remember that here you need to add some kind of time marker,

Next, for negative sentences, we're just adding the word "not", that's it, okay?

So, I'm not working next week.

He's not working next week.

They're not working next week.

Okay, just adding the - that word "not", and we'll be looking a little more at contractions

For the question, again, change the order.

Instead of saying "I am" or anything, we're saying "Am I", and now here in the questions,

we have no contractions, right?

You have the full form but in reverse order.

Say it after me: Am I working next week?

Are you working next week?

Are we working next week?

Are they working next week?

Is he working next week?

Is she working next week?

That's basically it.

And of course, we can add question words before that.

When are we working?

Well, in this case, if somebody was asking you, then you wouldn't have that in the question,

but you would have it in your answer, okay?

I'm working on Tuesday next week.

Where are we working next week?

How long are we working next week?

Like that, okay?

So, when you have those question words, just put them in here before all of this structure,

but all of this structure has to remain the same, and that's how you use present continuous

for the future.

Now, let's focus on some of the spelling changes we need to make when using contractions.

So, let's look at this example.

Instead of saying "You are", you could say "You're", and how did we do that?

We basically took these two words, we took out the "a" and we added an apostrophe in

the place of the missing letter.

And that's basically what happens in all of these.

For example, "I am" becomes "I'm".

You're, We're, They're, He's - this is, what, this is "he is", right?

We're cancelling the "I" and putting the apostrophe and making it into "He's".

She's and It's, okay?

Making it negative: I'm not.

She's not, and It's not.

And if you're using this, of course, for the future, you'd be saying more than that, you'd

be say "We're not working", or "We're not going to work", right?

But I'm just focusing right now on the contraction part of it.

The other way you can make it negative for I, we don't have any other option, but for

You and all of the others, we do.

So you could either say "You're not" or "You aren't".

So, what happened here?

Let's take these three words, these are the three words that we're working with: you are

not, to make this one, what did we do?

We cancelled the "a" here and added the apostrophe and we joined these: You're not.

And here, same three words: you are not, but here, we contracted this part, we took out

the "o", added the apostrophe and joined those two words, okay?

And that's how you can always think it through, even if you can't remember the spelling, you

don't have to remember it so much as understand how that contraction is being formed and then

you'll be able to write it correctly yourself.

But let's just say it: You aren't.

So, those are the contractions that you need to use with these forms of the future.

Now, let's look at how to give short answers when you're asked questions about the future

that use "going to" or the present continuous tense.

So, let's look at the first question: Are they going to call you?

So here, the person asked a question using "going to", okay, asking about the future.

Are they going to call you?

So, you could simply answer "Yes, they are.", or "No, they're not.", or "No, they aren't.",

We don't have to repeat the whole question, we don't have to say "Yes, they are going

to call.", we just say "Yes, they are."

"No, they're not."

"No, they aren't.", alright?

And you can know that, usually how to answer because you can take part of your answer,

most of the time, not always, we'll see, from the question itself, okay?

So, it starts with "are they" and we answer "Yes, they are.", okay?

Here, in the positive answer, we cannot use any contraction.

But in the negative answer, of course, we can.

And we're going to use the contraction because this is all informal conversation or communication.

Let's look at the next one: Is Maria joining us for dinner tonight?

This time, the person didn't say "going to join us", they just used present continuous

for the future: Is Maria joining us for dinner tonight?

So, we can say what?

"Yes, she is.", or "No, she's not.", or "No, she isn't.", alright?

Again, the positive answer has no contraction, alright?

And here's another one which is something you should learn because, very often, people

will be asking you something about you.

So, let's look at a sample of that: Are you leaving soon?

Now here, the answer cannot be taken from "are", because they're asking about you and

you have answer with "I", so here, it would be: Are you leaving soon?

"Yes, I am.", or "No, I'm not.".

So, these are probably good for you to memorize as answers: Yes, I am.

Again, this one, the positive one has no contraction, right?

But this one does.

Are you enjoying yourself?

Are you having a good time learning this?

You could say, I hope, "Yes, I am."

Now, let's practice what you've learned.

So, in the first three sentences, we will add "going to" to talk about the future.

Number one: John ___________ (watch) TV.

So, what would you say?

John is going to watch TV.

John is going to watch TV.

You could also use a contraction and say, "John's going to watch TV".

Alright, number two: The kids, which is sort of slang for saying children, okay?

The kids ____________ (not play) outside.

What would that be?

The kids - now, make it negative - aren't going to play outside.

The kids are not going to play outside.

Or, the kids aren't going to play outside.

Number three: Susan __________ (go) to the store.

Pay attention to this one.

I want you to use "going to" and what's our verb?

That can happen.

So just follow the same principle as you did here.

Susan is going to - and now what's our verb?

So, yes, we can say "Susan is going to go to the store.", alright?

If that's your verb, that's what you say.

Susan is going to watch TV.

Susan is going to lay outside.

Susan is going to go to the store.

So sometimes, the verb itself is "go", plus in any case, you have to use "going to", so

That's what you do, alright?

Alright, now for these three, let's use the present continuous.

He __________ (play) golf today.

He - let's use the contraction - He's playing golf today.

Number five: We ___________ (not stay) home tonight.

So, it's negative, it's present continuous for the future, let's use the contraction.

We're not staying home tonight.

Or you could say "We aren't staying home tonight."

Number six: Jeff _____________ (teach) a class tomorrow.

What would you say?

Jeff is teaching a class tomorrow.

Now, you see in all three of these, because we're using present continuous for the future,

what do we have to have?

This time marker.

Today - playing golf today - later today.

It's still the future.

Tonight - later tonight, or tomorrow, also the future.

So, make sure that you add that time marker with the present continuous.

Number seven, now we're going to make questions.

Let's do the first one with the present continuous.

What/you/do/about the problem?

How would you form that question?

So, we start with what.

What - you do about the problem.

Make it into present continuous: What are you doing about the problem?

And then, number eight, let's use "going to".

When/he/contact you?

What would it be?

When is he going to contact you?

When is he going to contact you, alright?

So, there you have the practice that we have done with all of these forms of the future.

Now, let's look at some common mistakes and you can help me fix them.

So, the first one.

This student wrote: When they are arriving?

So, what's wrong there?

This is a problem of word order.

So, what do we need to do when we have a question?

We need to change the order of the words.

So, in this case, it would have to be "When are they arriving?".

When are they arriving?

So, be careful of the word order, especially in questions.

The other student wrote: They bring the drinks tomorrow.

How can we fix that?

What's missing?

Let's say that what's missing is "going to", that's one way to talk about the future, right?

So, where would we put that?

They are going to bring the drinks tomorrow.

They are going to bring the drinks tomorrow.

Another student wrote: She going to be happy.

What did this student forget?

They forgot the verb "to be", so what should it be?

She is going to be happy.

Next, this person wrote: Your going to be late.

So, what's wrong there?

Look carefully.

So, this is a spelling mistake.

What should it be?

You're - spelled like this: You're.

This is short for "You are going to be late", but "your" is the possessive form of "you",

like "your book", "your office", like that.

That has a different meaning and you don't want to mix up these two words.

Next, this person wrote: He's gonna call you later.

So, what's going on there?

You might have heard it, okay, people do use it, but this term "He's gonna" is slang.

So, does that mean you can never use it?

No, you can, but you need to be aware that it is slang.

It is not formal English.

It is not informal English either, because even in informal English, we can use good

English, and then there's slang, and you can use slang with your friends if you're just

fooling around, something like that, but just be aware that it is slang and you don't - maybe

you don't want to use it in a professional situation or something like that, or in an

academic situation, okay?

So be careful of this one.

And if you don't want to use it, then you'd have to say, "He's going to call you later."

And let's look at this one.

This person wrote, talking about the future, "Donna is driving to Florida.", okay.

So, what's happening there?

As such, grammatically the sentence is correct, Donna is driving to Florida, but what does

it mean right now?

It's present continuous.

It means this is happening right now, but that's not what we wanted to say.

We wanted to say - about the future.

We wanted to talk about the future, so what do we need to add?

We need to add the time marker.

Some kind of phrase to indicate that we're talking about the future.

So, we could say "Donna is driving to Florida next week.", or tomorrow, or anything else

like that, okay?

Next summer, anything.

Some kind of time marker.

And then, now, it's complete because you're using the present continuous for the future

with a time marker.

So, be careful of these kind of mistakes when you're using these expressions and tenses.

Now, let's finish by doing a quick review of what we learned in this class.

So, we learned how to use "going to" to talk about the future.

We learned how to use the present continuous for the future, we learned when to use them,

how to use them, right?

And by now, you should feel comfortable making sentences and questions like these.

Let's have a quick look.

He's going to travel.

He's not going to travel.

He isn't going to travel.

Or, Is he going to travel?

So, we had our positive sentence, our negative sentences, and our question.

And we could add the question word, like "When is he going to travel", "Where is he going

to travel", and so on, okay?

You've got it now.

Also, we could use what?

Present continuous for the future.

For example: They're moving in May.

What does it mean to move?

To change your house from this house to another house.

To move from this city to another city, okay?

The negative: They're not moving in May, or They aren't moving in May, or Are they moving

So, when you can move comfortably between these kind of sentences, sometimes using present

continuous, sometimes using "going to" in informal situations, for things that are planned,

then you know how to use these to talk about the future, alright?

So, where can you go from here?

Well, the best way is really to write some sentences about your own life.

What are you going to do after this lesson?

What are you going to do this weekend?

What are you going to do this month, this year?

Write some sentences about yourself, your family, things like that, and that way, you'll

make it personal and it will also feel more meaningful to you because you're actually

using it in a sensible way to talk about yourself and about things that matter to you, okay?

Then, when you're ready, you can move on to watch the next video in this series which

will help you to make further progress, alright?

And if you need any more practice on this, then by all means you can go to www.engvid.com

to do a quiz on this lesson.

So thanks very much for watching, and all the best with your English.