Will: The Future Simple Tense
Many resources say that when we use will it is the “future simple tense”. But in English, there are many ways of talking about the future.
Here we’ll look at the core meaning of will, why it is useful when talking about the future, and some other ways people use it.
What is it?
Will is a verb that we use when there are options or possibilities (a modal verb).
Here are some other verbs we use in the same way, but with different meanings:
| present form | past form | ing form | en form |
| will can shall may must |
would could should might |
We put these verbs before the other verbs in the sentence.
These verbs only have a present form and a past form.
What does it mean?
We use will when we think about options and possibilities.
- We say the chosen option (a decision)
- or the possibility that we believe is really happening (a prediction).
How do we use it?
We use will when there are options or possibilities in the future. (I’ll = I will)
This is very common. We don’t know the future, so we often have to think about options or what is possible.
For decisions:
For predictions:
I ‘ll open the window.
Options: (a) leave it shut (b) open it
It ‘ll be sunny today.
Possibilities: (a) sunny (b) rain etc.
Examples
| Decisions |
|---|
| I’ll have a coffee. |
| We’ll buy a new bed. |
| Will we go out for lunch today? |
| We won’t eat chicken again. |
| Predictions |
|---|
| It’ll rain tomorrow. |
| We’ll have flying cars in 2050. |
| Will it be sunny tomorrow? |
| We won’t be home by 7PM. |
| Subject | will | Verb | Object | Time | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| She | will | wait. | She’ll wait. | ||
| I | will | watch | TV | all day. | I’ll watch TV all day. |
| He | won’t | drink | coffee | today. | He won’t drink coffee today. |
Will doesn't mean future
In English, there are many ways of talking about the future. We often think about options and possibilities in the future, so we often use will.
But there are many other situations where we talk about the future without will.
(For example: be -ing, be going to, or the present form)
And will isn’t only for the future.
We also use will when there are other possibilities in the present.
Madison said she’s coming to visit us. She wants to…
(knock knock)
Ah, that’ll be her now.
I don’t know who is at the door, it may be Madison or someone else. I think it is Madison.
Key Point
Will shows that the speaker thinks about options or possibilities and a choice is made.
Will is a very useful word, and one of the four parts that make up the 12 or 16 English tense patterns.
Next, review and compare sentences with the present form and will to get a better sense of the meaning will adds.
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