Future Simple Tense: Complete Guide with Examples and Tips

Let’s look at how to use it step-by-step.

Future Simple tense examples:

You form such sentences with   will , or   shall + the verb in infinitive form. Such Future Simple rules are easy, and you can tell someone about the future.

Shall is a modal verb; you can use it to speak more formally or officially with I and We. For example, if you talk to a person you don’t know, saying:

Here, you can see examples of sentences with different subjects and forms:

Simple Future tense describes what will be in the future, situations that will happen, your promises, and other similar cases. With the word “Simple” in its name, it means there are no hard and confusing moments. Some of the Future Simple examples are:

Time markers

This grammar point makes your sentences clear. They indicate when exactly (or around what time) something will happen.

Be going to vs. Will

The difference between will and going to with examples is the best way to understand this grammar.

Will is used when you want to speak about actions in the future that you didn’t plan or expect, some predictions, and unforeseen moments.

Be going to is used for plans which 100% are going to happen.

Here are Future Simple practice sentences:

• Oh, this cafe has no latte. I will buy some in another one. (The person didn’t expect there was no latte. They have to go to another cafe).
• I don’t drink coffee because I’m going to buy a latte in my favorite cafe. (This action is planned).
• I didn’t know it was the end of the meeting! I will send my report to HR in a minute. (This sentence describes the situation when the person made a rapid decision).
• I know it’s the end of the meeting! I’m going to send my report to HR in a minute. (It was planned, and the person is going to do it immediately).

Here’s a table that showcases differences between will and be going to Simple Future tense examples:

For you to get this tense better, we prepared a few Future Simple sentences that you can hear every day in conversations about work, travel, plans, money, music, or else:

Simple Future form is clear to learn, but it has a few moments to review. We will make everything easy by looking at questions and negative sentences and will vs. be going to.

Affirmative sentences

This type of saying is the most common, used by speakers daily. Here, you simply put will after the subject and add a verb in a base form. Here are the common real-world cases of usage:

Promise

Prediction

Decision (made at the moment of dialogue)

Arrangement

Negative sentences

For negative sentences, you just add a function word not after will. Here’s the formula:

The Future Simple structure for this case looks like this in daily conversations:

Questions

To form a question with Future Simple rules, you place will at the beginning, add a subject and a verb infinitive. 

Yes/No questions

Let’s see how it works in conversations: 

Wh-questions

Here are some more sentences for you to practice such questions:

The Future Simple tense is a great and correct way to describe actions you plan to do, some ideas and suggestions, and it’s easy to learn. In this part, you will learn some mistakes people usually make to prevent them from being made in daily speech. Here is the Future Simple example and explanation.

Using Future Simple instead of Present Simple

Sometimes, people can use Future Simple for habits, things you do regularly, and facts, which is wrong:

Mixing will and be going to

Both of them are used to talk about the future but in different contexts. They have similar meaning but different usage.

Will tells us that the decision or action is made at the moment of speaking. Be going to is used when you are talking about planned actions.

Adding to after will

We don’t place to after will and before the base verb unlike in structures for other verb forms.

This tense is a basis for future grammar learning, so you need to be confident when using it in communication, while doing exercises, preparing for tests, and more. Here, you will find a brief review of pro tips from advanced learners.

To do:

You know all the Future Simple rules and can make a mistake-free and native conversation about things that will happen in the future, your promises, ideas, considerations, and predictions. Keep practising, and you will understand it’s easier than ever!