aka Future

Written by Qualified French Expert Aurélie Drouard HKH, Licence d'anglais LLCE

Last updated: 2019-02-28

The English simple future consists of the modal verb will followed by the infinitive (minus "to"). The simple future is used for

• spontaneous decisions
  • Wait, I'll take the blue one!
     
• opinions, hopes, uncertainties, predictions, and assumptions about the future
  • They will probably come back tomorrow.
     
• promises
  • I promise that I won't watch TV tonight.
     
• actions in the future that cannot be influenced
  • It'll be windy tomorrow and it will rain.
     
• if-clauses of conditional sentences
  • He'll call you if he arrives early.
     

Rarely, in older, more formal, or written English, "shall" might be used instead of "will."

For example

• We shall arrive next Friday lunchtime.
• We shan't stay too late, I'm afraid.