There are two important future tenses. They are future “will” tense and future “going to” tense.
Future “will” tense looks like this:
Will you drink a cup of coffee with me?
Yes, I will.
What will I do tonight? I know! I will watch TV!
We use future “will” tense for an action in the future if we speak spontaneously. That means I have a thought and I speak about it at the same time.
Future “going to” tense looks like this:
Are you going to watch TV night?
No, I am not.
What are you going to do tonight?
I am going to study and then I am going to go to bed early.
We use future “going to” tense for future plans. That means I made the plan before I spoke.
Present Continuous Tense and Future “going to” Tense
Do not confuse present continuous tense and future “going to” tense.
Present continuous tense:
I am going home. (“going to”plus place)
I am going to school. (“going to” plus place)
I am going to Africa. (“going to” plus place)
Future “going to” Tense:
I am going to go home. (“going to” plus verb plus place)
I am going to study. (“going to” plus verb)
I am going to sleep. (“going to” plus verb)
Present Continuous Tense (with future meaning)
Sometimes we use present continuous tense with a future meaning, for example:
I am going to Argentina next year.
I am going to Argentina now.
Have you done the World English Course? You can practise future tenses “future will” and “future going to” in the World English Course. It is free. There are lots of things to talk about and people to meet and audio to listen to and ideas to read about. Are you going to do the World English Course?