Future Tenses Overview

You can express the future in different ways in English. On this page, you have an overview of the most common English tenses to talk about the future.

Talking about the future is less strict than talking about the present and past. Usually, people talking about the future use several tenses, depending on what they want to express. In most situations, using a different tense would still be correct.

Future tenses overview

Will-futureGoing to-futurePresent simplePresent continuousFuture continuous
Pure future, spontaneous decisions and opinions with ‘I think’
Opinions and predictions about or intentions towards something in the futureTimetablesPlans about something in the futureWhen an action will be going on in the future
will + infinitiveTo be going to + infinitiveinfinitive/ infinitive + sto be + -ing formwill + be + -ing form
I will call an ambulance. He’s drunk so he is going to fall over. The train leaves at 7:45. I am visiting the British Museum tomorrow. They will be waiting for you after school.
Will-futureGoing to-future
Pure future, spontaneous decisions and opinions with ‘I think’
Opinions and predictions about or intentions towards something in the future
will + infinitiveTo be going to + infinitive
I will call an ambulance. He’s drunk so he is going to fall over.
Present simplePresent continuousFuture continuous
TimetablesPlans about something in the futureWhen an action will be going on in the future
infinitive/ infinitive + sto be + -ing formwill + be + -ing form
The train leaves at 7:45. I am visiting the British Museum tomorrow. They will be waiting for you after school.

Exercises

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