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? Alright. 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 is the future. 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 these things. 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 situations. 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. Alright? 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 the same way. 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? Going to rain. 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. Okay. 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're flying. 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. Okay? Got that? 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. Alright? 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 situations. 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 contractions. 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. Okay? 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? Alright. 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. Alright? 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. Why? 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 next week." 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. Okay? 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, okay? 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. That's it. Okay, just adding the - that word "not", and
we'll be looking a little more at contractions very soon. 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? Okay? 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. Okay? Like that. 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. You're not. We're not. They're not. He's 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 look. 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. We aren't. They aren't. He isn't. She isn't. It isn't. Okay? 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.", okay? 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. No, I'm not. Again, this one, the positive one has no contraction,
right? But this one does. Okay? 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. Okay? 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. Very good. Number three: Susan __________ (go) to the
store. Pay attention to this one. I want you to use "going to" and what's our
verb? Go. That can happen. So just follow the same principle as you did
here. Susan is going to - and now what's our verb? Go. 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 fine. 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. Alright? Good. 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." Good. 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. Alright? 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? Okay? That's it. Good. And then, number eight, let's use "going to". When/he/contact you? What would it be? When is he going to contact you? Okay? 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?". Okay? 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. Okay? Good. 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. Alright? 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? What is that? 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." Okay? Alright. 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? Right? 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. You have. Alright. 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 in May? Alright? 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. Okay? So thanks very much for watching, and all
the best with your English.
