Future Tense (Future Simple using will and going to)

In this lesson Jeremy Explains how we form and use the Future Simple tense. We'll take a look at the two forms of the Future Simple(will and going to) and how they are different. Grammar Gurus helps you learn English grammar with high quality entertaining English videos. English lessons can be fun! There are two ways to make the future tense (or more specifically the future simple tense) in English. The first is to use will + base form of the verb, for example "It will rain tomorrow". The second is to use the verb to be + going to+ the base form of the verb, for example " It is going to rain tomorrow". Both forms of the future tense (future simple) are considered ok in formal English, and both are used interchangeably in many ways when talking about the future. However there are sometimes that it's better to use 'will' and sometimes that it's better to use 'be going to'. Let's look at some will vs. going to examples. The Will form of the future simple is used to make quick decisions in response to questions or sudden things that happen. For example if a phone rings the usual response would be "I'll get it". Or if your coworker invites you to come along to get some lunch as he walks out the door you would respond, "Yeah, I'll come". Both are quick responses and so use the 'will' form of the future tense. But what if instead of the phone just ringing you knew that your boss planned to call you tonight to talk about work you might say, "My boss is going to call me at home tonight, if the phone rings please answer it." In this example there has been a plan made so we use the 'to be going to' form of the present simple tense. And in the other example what if instead of your coworker inviting you to join him for lunch as he walks out the door he invites you to meet up with some friends after work. He might say "Some friends and I are going to meet up and maybe watch a movie, would you like to come?" In this example a plan was made and so we use the 'to be going to" form of the future simple tense instead of the 'will' form of the future simple tense. So the easiest way to remember the differences is to simply use 'will' for quick decisions and 'to be going to' for planned out actions. For predictions about the future both forms of the present simple tense are basically interchangeable ('Humans will live on Mars', or 'Humans are going to live on Mars'). For promises both are ok, perhaps with a preference to 'will' ('I will call you the minute I arrive to let you know that I'm safe', or 'I am going to call you the minute I arrive to let you know that I'm safe') Try not to worry too much about whether you should use 'will' or 'to be going to' at first. The fact is that if you use 'will' for a planned action it is not technically wrong, it's just not the way that a native English speaker would normally say it. The more you speak English and listen to Native English speakers speaking English the easier it will become to use both forms of the future simple tense correctly without thinking about it too much.