Future Tense – Examples and Types

We know that in English, tenses are an important element that helps us form meaningful and complete sentences. Tenses are basically the verb words that communicate the time of occurrence of activities in different contexts.

Mainly, there are three tenses i.e. past tense, present tense, and future tense. Each of these tenses produces different time locations that show us when an action occurs. In this post, we will focus on the final type, the future tense. The future tense is a tense that talks about actions that will happen in the future.

However, that is only the general understanding of the future tense. This tense further has four different types within itself. So, let us get into a detailed discussion below.

What is future tense?

In a general sense, the future tense is one of the main tenses that describes an action that will occur in the future. It talks about something that is yet to happen. That means it emphasizes the future activities or state of being.

Since future tense deals with something that will happen, it is also said to be a will tense. It describes activities that will come into existence at a time later than now.

For example;

• I will work tomorrow.
• She will play the guitar for the band.
• They will carry the benches.
• I will not eat chicken from tomorrow.

Types of future tense

Just like the other two tenses in English, the future tense also has four different aspects that communicate the time of action in different contexts. They are;

Simple future tense: The simple future tense is the basic form of future tense that talks about activities that will occur in the future, a time later than the present.

Here, we take an auxiliary verb “will” along with the base form or the root form of the main verb. Since will is a modal auxiliary verb, it remains constant without changing depending on the person doing the act.

• She will leave tomorrow.
• We will celebrate our victory in the evening.

Future continuous tense: This is a form of the future tense that talks about actions in progress at a certain point in the future. That means it describes ongoing activities that will happen later.

Here, the modal verb will and the verb be is used along with the present participle form of the main verb. That means the main verb will end with –ing.

• He will be dancing at the function tomorrow.
• I will be performing soon.

Future perfect tense: This is an aspect used to talk about actions that will have been completed at a particular point in the future. In short, it describes completed actions in the future.

Here, the verb will is added with another verb have. This phrase is then used with the past participle form of the main verb.

• She will have gone by then.
• I will have finished my meal by the time you reach.

Future perfect continuous tense: This is a form that talks about an action that will be ongoing in the future and will be completed at some specified time in the future.

Here, the verb phrase will have been is used along with the present participle form of the main verb.

• I will have been driving for three hours next Saturday.
• In January, you will have been travelling for hours.

So, these are the four different types of future tense that communicate time in different contexts. However, their primary aim is to talk about future actions.