Understanding Simple Future Tense (Rules + Examples)

What is simple future tense? And how does it function? What are the grammar rules that govern this verb tense? Learn everything you need to know about simple future in the comprehensive guide below.

What is the simple future tense?

The simple future tense describes an event or action that will occur in the future.

For example, Tony will go to school tomorrow.

Readers clearly understand that Tony has not yet attended school. ‘Tomorrow’ denotes the precise time in the future when Tony will attend school.

Are there any words that indicate that the given English statement is in the simple future tense? Luckily, yes.

In Tony’s example, the phrase ‘will go’ indicates that the statement is in the simple future tense.

We’ll look at more such words shortly.

What are the other tenses?

There are three tenses in the English language – past, present, and future.

These three tenses are further subdivided into four categories – Simple, continuous, perfect, and perfect continuous.

The past tense, for instance, has four subcategories:

Simple past tense
Past continuous tense
Past perfect tense
Past perfect continuous tense

Similarly, the present tense has four subcategories:

And, the future tense has four subcategories:

Simple future tense
Future continuous tense
Future perfect tense
Future perfect continuous tense

Learning all the twelve tenses may seem overwhelming, but it’s easy. Every category of tense follows a pattern (there are a few exceptions though). To master your tenses, memorize and practice these patterns as much as possible.

Tense	Function	Rule	Example
Present simple	Helps to describe habits, facts, actions, and truth that are not affected by time	I^st form of verb + s/es	He loves pizza.
Past simple	Helps to describe events that have happened in the past	II^nd form of the verb	She wore a beautiful dress for the party.
Future simple	Helps to describe events that will happen in the future	Will/ shall + I^st form	He will go to New York tomorrow.
Present perfect	Helps to describe the relevance of past events in the present moment	Has/ have + III^rd form of the verb	I have learned to ride a bike.
Past perfect	Helps to describe events that happened prior to other events in the past	Had + III^rd form of the verb	She had finished the paper before leaving the hall.
Future perfect	Helps to describe events that will be completed between now and a specific point in the future	Will/ have + III^rd form of the verb	She will have finished the book by tomorrow.
Present continuous	Helps to describe ongoing actions	Is/ am/ are + I^st form + ing	She is reading a book.
Past continuous	Helps to describe ongoing events of the past, mostly in relation to another event	Was/ were + I^st form + ing	He was driving to work when the accident happened.
Future continuous	Helps to describe future events that will/are expected to continue for a period of time	Will be + I^st form + ing	I will be going to meet my grandparents tomorrow.
Present perfect continuous	Helps to describe events that started in the past and will continue into the present	Has/ have been + I^st form + ing	She has been writing a book for the past one year.
Past perfect continuous	Helps to describe events that began, continued, and ended in the past	Had been + I^st form + ing	I had been working in this company for ten years when I got the promotion.
Future perfect continuous	Helps to describe events that began in the past but will continue until a point in the future	Will/ shall have been + I^st form + ing	I will have been doing business with her for one year.

How is it different?

Now that you understand what the future tense is about, take a look at how it differs from the other two tenses—past tense and present tense.

Past tense

The past tense refers to an event or action that has already occurred. This event or action can’t be undone.

For example, Tony went to school yesterday.

Readers clearly understand that Tony has already attended his school. ‘Yesterday’ denotes the precise time in the past when Tony attended his school. The phrase ‘went’ indicates that the statement is in the past tense.

Present tense

The present tense refers to an event or action that is currently taking place. It also refers to a habitual action or event. An event or action happening in the present tense can be stopped or changed.

For example, Tony is going to school today.

The readers understand that Tony has not yet arrived at his school. Nor is he going to attend his school sometime in the future. Tony is on his way to school. The use of the phrase ‘is going’ indicates that the statement is in the present tense.

Examples

Though there is no definite rule, some words or phrases that identify future tense are:

Will go
Tomorrow
Next
Further
In future
A month later
Days later
Some time again
The coming day
The next day
Next morning
Next night
The coming noon
ahead (with reference to future time)
Year 3023 (or any year after the current year)
Would
Would go
Day after tomorrow
A decade later

Here are some statements that indicate future tense:

Joe will go to church tomorrow.
Martin might miss his dentist appointment on Monday.
Mom will go to the market.
The day after tomorrow, we will have a celebration at Pheobe’s place.
Ben will take the audition for the Scoopy Dog show against Mary.

Simple future forms

Use the simple future tense to describe events that have not yet begun. Follow the two structures listed below to construct a sentence in the simple future tense.

Will

The structure including the word will to form a simple future form statement is:

Will + [verb in its root form]

To use the simple future tense in a sentence, follow the below formula:

Subject + assisting verb (will) + base form of the verb + rest of the sentence

To use the simple future tense to express negation, follow the below formula:

Subject + assisting verb (will) + not + base form of the verb + rest of the sentence

Examples

Note: The italicized text is the assisting verb (will) + base form of the verb

To represent events or actions that will occur in the near future

Joey will eat a pizza for lunch.

Robert will make a Christmas tree for his friend, Sheldon.

Ruskin will not read a novel during the library hour.

She will not dance at her friend’s engagement.

Patrick will work all day to complete his assignment paper.

To speculate or forecast something or about someone in the future

I’m wondering whether Liam will go to the magic show tonight.

Oliver will look great in those blue jeans.

According to the weather forecast, there will be a high tide of rain throughout the day.

This year, she will be my Valentine.

James will go with Harry to buy a wand at Oliver’s.

Luna will bake a cake and eat it all by herself.

To make a statement about the future that is true

The apartment will cost the Coopers a fortune.

George will lead the football team to the championship game.

Henry will write an essay about the environment of the school.

Mary will cook turkey along with her father.

Lucas will go to bed early tonight because he is exhausted from hours of boxing practice.

To inquire about something or someone who will be doing something in the future

Will you be able to attend tomorrow’s math class?

Will she be angry if she hears about the betrayal?

Is Noah going to be the maid of honor at Samuel’s wedding?

Will Jacob not pay a visit to his meemaw today?

To consider potential future consequences, conditions, or opportunities

She will miss her art class if she doesn’t wake up early.

She will not come to the funeral.

Larry will come to the party if only his elder brother Tom drops him off at my house.

Angelo will only attend the ball if Emma is his date.

To give orders or commands, as in imperative sentences

At 12 p.m., you will turn in your passport documents. Clear?

Ben’s lawyer advised: ‘You will need to keep all of your evidence handy before filing the case.’

You will go to the church today. That’s an order.

Going to

The phrase ‘going to’ refers to an event or action that will take place in the near future.

To construct a simple future tense sentence with the expression ‘going to,’ use the structure: (auxiliary verb) be + going to + infinitive.

You can also use be as a main verb.

Another way to use the phrase ‘going to’ is: [am/is/are] + going to + [base form of the verb].

Examples

She will be going to the market on Monday.

Bradley will be going to revise the formulas before the test.

Ross is going to buy an apartment for Edward.

How to use simple future tense

To express a voluntary action

Use ‘will’ to express a choice to perform an action or event.

In the form of a question or for a rhetorical statement, use ‘will’ to ask someone if they want to help or work for you.

Examples

Will you do me a favor, please?

I will make a sandwich right away.

To express a promise

Use ‘will’ to promise someone that you or someone else will complete a task.

Examples

I will sail the seas and deliver you that painting.

‘I will always support you in difficult times,’ Nancy told Bill.

Nancy will support Bill in his difficult times, always!

To express a plan

Use ‘going to’ to talk about the likelihood of something happening in the future.

Example

I am going to take a shower later tonight.

Are you going to come over to my house for a game of monopoly?

Simple future grammar rules

No future in the time clauses

Future time clauses are dependent clauses. You will need an independent clause to complete the sentence.

But what are dependent and independent clauses?

A dependent clause is a group of words that includes a subject and a verb but does not form a complete sentence.

The independent clause is a complement to the dependent clause. It includes a predicate that describes what the subject does.

Use the future in the independent clause and the present tense in the dependent (time) clause to construct a sentence in the simple future tense.

Example

I will feel relieved after I finish my article. (correct statement)

I will feel relieved after I will finish my article. (incorrect statement)

In the above example, the future time clause begins with the time word ‘after.’ So, you can’t use ‘will’ for that part of the sentence.

Adverb placement

Put an adverb in any of the four positions in your simple future tense statement:

at the start
at the end
before a verb
after an auxiliary verb

Example

It will hopefully be hot in the afternoon.

For the above statement, the adverb hopefully is placed before the verb be.

Active and passive voice

Use the following structure for writing an active voice statement in the simple future tense:

Subject + will/shall +base form of verb + object

Use the following structure for writing a passive voice statement in the simple future tense:

active sentence object + will/shall + be + past participle form of verb + by + active sentence subject

Example

Active voice: Jennifer will sign the document.

Here, Jennifer is the subject, sign is the verb in its base form and the document is the object. Therefore, the passive voice for the same statement is as follows:

Passive voice: The document will be signed by Jennifer.

Common questions

How does future simple tense work in Spanish?

To construct a simple future tense statement in, change the ending of the verb.

For example, ‘hablo’ in Spanish means I speak, ‘hablaré’ in Spanish means ‘I will speak’ or I shall ‘speak.’

Add the Spanish endings (-é, -ás, -á, -emos, -éis, -án) to the infinitive of regular (-ar, -er, and -ir ) verbs to form the simple future tense.

What is future simple conjugation?

Conjugation means changing the base verb form to align with a specific tense. If you don’t conjugate the verb, and leave it in its base form (at, walk, talk), the simple future tense won’t come across clearly.

For a simple future tense, conjugate the base verb by will, shall, will be, shall be, won’t be, shall not be, and am/is/are + going to.

For example, I will dance alone.

Here, the base verb dance is conjugated to form will dance to denote a simple future tense.

Future simple exercises for students

Identify the simple future tense in the examples below:

Beth will read a book tonight.

Mia is going to California this summer.

Am I going to be a part of this book club?

Will you be my Valentine?

Chloe will build her own beauty brand.

Which of the following statements is correct in the simple future tense:

Robert had a terrible headache yesterday.

Bruno wrote a song about Mars.

I will go for a morning walk tomorrow.

I might not go to school on Monday.

Paris will sleep till the afternoon if her mother doesn’t wake her up.

Sources

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About the author

Dalia Y.: Dalia is an English Major and linguistics expert with an additional degree in Psychology. Dalia has featured articles on Forbes, Inc, Fast Company, Grammarly, and many more. She covers English, ESL, and all things grammar on GrammarBrain.