There are much more times in English than in Russian, so at first, when learning a foreign language, it may seem that understanding them is very difficult. However, most of them, including a simple future tense, are not difficult if you remember a few simple rules. After reading the article, you will understand that in fact there is nothing complicated in how Future Simple is formed.
What is Future Simple
Future Simple in English is a simple future tense. This is the easiest to learn and common from future tenses in the language. It is worth mastering it first of all, immediately after studying the simple present and past tenses, this will provide a good base for more complex grammatical constructions. Moreover, understanding how Future Simple is formed is very simple.
When used
There are several common uses for Future Simple.
- When talking about an action that will happen in the future, once or repeatedly. The speaker does not express his attitude to action, the sentence boils down to a simple statement of fact without a subjective point of view. Often a sentence contains a word that means time. For example: tomorrow - tomorrow, next week - next week.
- When a proposal reports on the natural course of things, events that will happen inevitably. For example: Winter will come soon - Winter will come soon.
- When a sentence speaks of actions that will take place in the future when certain conditions are met, there is often a subordinate clause where this condition is indicated. You can find the words if - if, when - when and others.
- When a sentence contains an adverb, a modal word or expression that means doubt, hope, speculation, thoughts about the future. These words are possible - perhaps, perhaps - perhaps, probably - probably, as well as the verbs to think - to think, to hope - to hope and others.
- When the verb, which is not used for long periods, is the verb to be in one of the forms. For example: I'll be back - I'll be back.
- In a business, official style of speech, when someone’s plans, intentions are reported. For example: He will make an announcement tomorrow - He will make an announcement tomorrow.
In general, it is not necessary to memorize these rules separately, since the simple past, present and future tense are applied in the same cases, so you can be guided by your knowledge of the most common, present simple tense.
There are also less common rules, but they should be taken into account in order to fully understand how Future Simple Tense is formed.
- When it comes to spontaneous, momentary solutions. That is, the decision is made by the speaker directly at the time of speaking. For example: What will you order? - What will you order? I will take coke and cheese sandwich. “I'll take a Coke and a cheese sandwich.”
- Promises. You can add the expression I promise - I promise. For example: I promise, I will pay next week. “I promise I will pay next week.”
- With threats and warnings. For example: I will kill you. - I'll kill you. It will burn you. “You will burn yourself.”
- Requests for help. The simple question with the auxiliary verb will at the beginning is often perceived as a request for help.
How is the statement formed
How is Future Simple formed in the case of a simple affirmative sentence? Everything is very simple, you just need to follow such a simple formula: before the semantic verb in the first form (the infinitive without the particle to) is placed the auxiliary verb will. The rest of the proposal structure remains unchanged.
For instance:
- I will pay tomorrow - I will pay tomorrow.
- He will come next week - He will come next week
In colloquial speech or in written speech when using not too standardized styles, often the auxiliary verb is combined with a personal pronoun in an abbreviated form. For example: I will - I'll.
How is the question formed
With the questions in the formation of a simple future tense, everything is somewhat more complicated. In a simple question without a special interrogative word, simple inversion is applied, the auxiliary verb will moves to the beginning of the sentence, followed by the subject and the semantic verb in the first form.
For instance:
- Will you pay tomorrow? “Will you pay tomorrow?”
At first, some difficulties may arise with how the time of Future Simple is formed, when the interrogative sentence has a special word where to put it. In this case, a question word is put at the beginning of the sentence, followed by an auxiliary verb, and only then the subject follows. For instance:
- Who will pay tomorrow? - Who will pay tomorrow?
- Why will he come next week? “Why is he coming next week?”
How is negation formed
By mastering the rules for constructing affirmative and interrogative sentences, you can easily learn to understand how negation is formed in Future Simpe. Between the auxiliary and semantic verbs , only the particle not is placed.
In the negative sentence, as in the affirmative, there is also room for reduction. It is permissible to use the won't form instead of a turn. Again, it is worth resorting to such a reduction only in colloquial speech.
Passive voice
Often sentences in the future tense are used in a passive (or passive) voice. Here is an example from the Russian language: the complaint will be considered; the car will be sold.
Here are the cases in which you need to use a passive voice :
- When the speaker does not know who will perform the action in the future.
- When the speaker does not really care who will perform the action, the fact of its commission is important.
- When an action will inevitably happen, but it is unpleasant for the speaker and he does not want to talk about it.
Here is a simple formula by which you can understand how the Future Simple Passive is formed. At the beginning of the sentence, an object or person is put over which the action will be performed, then the auxiliary verb will and the particle be. In third place is the semantic verb in the past tense, its external form depends on whether the verb is right or wrong.
Sometimes the sentence also indicates who will perform the action, then at the end of the sentence you need to put the particle by and the person’s name. If the action is performed using any tool, machine, then instead of the particle by, there is the pretext with.
In the negative form of the passive voice of a simple future tense, the sentence is constructed according to the same formula, but not will be put between will and be. A simple inversion is often used in an interrogative sentence, when the auxiliary verb will is placed at the beginning of the sentence.
The difference between will and going to be
There are some pitfalls in how Future Simple is formed. Be going to - a turn that is often not used when talking about future actions, since it is harder to use than the auxiliary verb will. Here are a few cases when it is worth using in speech this particular turn.
- If will means that the decision was made spontaneously, at the time of speaking, then going going to means that the decision was made deliberately, it was planned in advance. For example: I am going to be a lawyer. - I will be a lawyer.
- Will will be used when the future action does not happen exactly, but the speaker hopes, counts, thinks that it will happen. If there are concrete grounds, facts for the action to occur, then it is worth using be going to.
Whether to use shall
According to the official rules of the English language, the auxiliary verb shall is used with personal pronouns of the first person in the singular and plural. In all other cases, will is used. However, in the last few decades, shall gradually leaves the spoken language, it can only be found in old texts, deliberately official style, sometimes it is used in threats and interrogative sentences with the offer of help. For instance:
- You shall never come here again. “You better never come here again.”
- Shall we help you? - Can we help you?
Conclusion
When learning English, the first thing you need to do is to learn how Present Simple, Future Simple and Past Simple are formed. These are the three times on which knowledge of grammar is based, since the rest, more complex times, are formed partly according to the rules of using the three basic times.