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.
