IN English language There are times that have no analogues in our native Russian language. The temporary form Future Continuous is one of these. Memorable examples of Future Continuous sentences with translation will help you figure it out.
What is Future Durable?
Future Continuous or Future Continuous refers to the group of future tenses in English: Future Simple (Simple Future), Future Perfect (Future Perfect), Future Perfect Continuous (Future Perfect Continuous). In other words, this temporary form, like others from this series, describes an event that will occur in the future. Her distinctive feature is the Continuous aspect, indicating that we have before us a process occurring at a specific period of action in the future.
Affirmative form
Each temporary form has its own formation formula. The Future Continuous tense is not an exception. Its grammatical structure is as follows: subjects + will/shall + be + main verb + -ing. The examples given show that the Future Continuous is used to describe actions that will continue for some time in the future, as well as to describe planned events.
Negation
An integral part of negative sentences is the negative particle not, which by its appearance changes the Future Continuous formula: subjects + will/shall + not+ be + main verb + -ing.
Please note that the negative particle not (not), following immediately after the first auxiliary verb will or shall, can merge with them, forming short form won't/shan't.
Question
There are four types of interrogative sentences in English. These include general, special, alternative and dividing questions. Without going into details of the construction of each of them, we can highlight one common feature for everyone - changing the order of words in a sentence: the auxiliary verb comes first. Construction formula interrogative sentence in Future Continuous it looks like this: will/ shall + subjects + be + main verb + -ing?
TOP 3 articleswho are reading along with this
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Offer |
Translation |
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Will the police be looking for this robber the whole evening? |
Will the police be looking for this robber all evening? |
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Will the president be making an announcement to the press later this afternoon |
Will the President be making a statement to the press this afternoon? |
|
What will the scientists be finding to improve our lives? |
What will scientists look for to improve our lives? |
Now we will look in detail at the rules and examples of construction for the Future Continuous. This time is also known as Future Progressive in another name. Let's also compare it with the Future Simple - a fact in the future tense. Example: Tomorrow I will fly to New York. In negation we put not: I will not eat it.
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But Future Continuous answers the question whether the process will happen in the future or not and is built on this principle. Will you be doing your homework at 7? Will you do your homework at 7 o'clock?
Comparison
As you probably know, the Future Simple is built according to the formula Will + V1 (a verb in the first form without endings) and denotes a fact. And Future Continuous – Will be + V (-ing) and this is a process of action.
Example: I will cook for you. (FS)
I will be cooking for you. (FC)
Types of offers
Negation of Future Continuous “I will not be cooking tomorrow”
In negation you can shorten the particle not: I won’t be swimming - I won’t swim. Here will not = won’t.
Negative question “Why will you not be flying to Alaska?”
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More examples for understanding
Let's look at examples of sentences with translation for the Future Continuous - let's consolidate our knowledge.
She will be preparing the whole day tomorrow to meet us. She will be preparing all day to meet us tomorrow.
Tomorrow this time I will be learning English. Tomorrow at this time I will be learning English.
I will be sleeping from 3 till 5. I will sleep from 3 to 5. A certain period of time in the future is highlighted here.
Hint words
Let us give an example of the words pointers that tell us that the Future Continuous is used:
this time tomorrow - at this time tomorrow
all day long - all day
all day tomorrow - all day tomorrow
the whole day (morning/evening) – the whole day (morning/evening)
from 5 till 9 p.m. – from 5 to 9 pm
Take the test
The word Future is translated as “future” and shows us that the action will only take place. Continuous indicates the duration of this action. That is, the action will begin sometime in the future and will last for some time.
We use the Future Continuous to emphasize the duration of an action that will take place in the future. Unlike the Future Simple tense, which we use when we simply talk about something as a fact that will happen.
Let's look at two examples:
1. FutureSimple:
I will fly to America.
I'll fly to America.
2. FutureContinuous:
Tomorrow this time I will be flying to America.
Tomorrow at this time I will be flying to America. (literally: Tomorrow at this time I will appear flying to America)
The first example simply talks about fact: Sometime in the future a person will fly to America.
The second example says it will be process, and it will last for some time. That is, we focus specifically on the duration of this action. A person will board a plane and fly for a certain long time.
Now let's look at cases of using the future continuous tense.
Use of Future Continuous Tense
This tense is used in the following cases:
1. When we talk about an action that will take place at a certain period or point in time.
Example: I will study from 5 to 7; they will be walking at 8
2. When we talk about an action that will last a certain amount of time (this action can be interrupted by others).
Example: I will be working on this project all week; she will study English all summer.
Affirmative sentences Future Continuous Tense
An affirmative sentence is formed using the auxiliary verb to be in the form of the future tense (will be) and the ending “-ing”, which is added to the verb denoting action. The education scheme will be as follows:
the one in question + will be + verb + -ing
| I | ||
| You | ||
| We | playing | |
| They | will be | swimming |
| She | cooking | |
| He | ||
| It |
For example:
She will be driv ing a car all night long.
She will drive all night.
They will be sleep ing from six till nine.
They will sleep from 6 to 9.
I will be work ing.
I will work.
Rules for adding endings -ing we looked at in this article. In it we also talked about verbs that are never used in continuous tenses, since they do not know how to last. Be sure to check it out!
Words are indicators of time
Very often the following words are used with the Future Continuous tense:
- all day long - all day
- this time tomorrow - at this time tomorrow
- all day tomorrow - all day tomorrow
- the whole morning/evening/day - the whole morning/evening/day
- from 6 till 8 p.m. - from 6 to 8 pm
They will help you understand that this is the continuous future tense. Let's look at examples:
I will be having rest the wholesale evening.
I'll rest the whole evening tomorrow.
They will be swimming in a pool from 3 till 5 p.m..
They will be swimming in the pool from 3 to 5 pm.
Negative form of Future Continuous Tense
A negative sentence at this time is formed in the same way as an affirmative sentence, but the negative particle not is added to our verb to be. In this case, we place the particle not between will and be. We can do it willnotbe.
the one in question + will not be + verb + -ing
| I | ||
| You | ||
| We | playing | |
| They | will not be | swimming |
| She | cooking | |
| He | ||
| It |
She will not be read ing.
She won't read.
They will not be danc ing.
They won't dance.
I will not be walk ing in the park.
I won't walk in the park.
Abbreviations:
In negation we can shorten the particle not, pay attention to how exactly:
will not = won't
I won't be painting.
I won't draw.
Question form Future Continuous Tense
If you want to ask whether someone will do some continuous action in the future, then move the verb to be to the first place in the sentence. At the same time, we place our character between will and be. It turns out like this: Will she be...?
Scheme of question formation:
will + person in question + be + verb + -ing
| I | |||
| you | |||
| we | playing? | ||
| Will | they | be | swimming? |
| she | cooking? | ||
| he | |||
| it |
Statement:
I will be clean ing my house.
I will clean my house.
We will be watch ing a new film.
We will watch a new film.
She will be sleep ing the whole day.
She will sleep all day.
The question and a positive answer (our “yes”) will look like this:
| Question | Short answer (contains will) | Full answer (constructed as an affirmative sentence) |
| Will I be clean ing my house? Will I clean my house? |
Yes, I will. |
Yes, I will be clean ing my house. Yes, I will clean my house. |
| Will we be watch ing a new film? |
Yes, we will. |
Yes, we will be watch ing a new film. |
| Will she be sleep ing the whole day? Will she sleep all day? |
Yes, she will. |
Yes, she will be sleep ing the whole day. Yes, she will sleep all day. |
Negative answers (our “no”) will look like this:
| Question | Short answer (contains will + not) | Full answer (constructed as a negative sentence) |
| Will I be clean ing my house? Will I clean my house? |
No, I will not. |
No, I will not be clean ing my house. No, I won't clean my house. |
| Will we be watch ing a new film? Will we watch a new movie? |
No, we will not. |
No, we will not be watch ing a new film. No, we won't watch the new movie. |
| Will she be sleep ing the whole day? Will she sleep all day? |
No, she will not. |
No, she will not be sleep ing the whole day. No, she won't sleep all day. |
Will they be danc ing the whole night?
Yes, they will.
Yes, they will.
Will they be danc ing the whole night?
Will they dance all night?
No, they will not.
No, they won't.
Will he be play ing football from 4 till 6?
Yes, he will be play ing football from 4 till 6.
Yes, he will play football from 4 to 6.
Will he be play ing football from 4 till 6?
Will he play football from 4 to 6?
No, he will not be play ing football from 4 till 6.
No, he won't play football from 4 to 6.
Clarifying questions
We ask such questions with the following words:
- What - what
- Where - where
- Who - who
- Which - which
- Why - why
question word + will + person in question + be + verb + -ing
| I | ||||
| you | ||||
| What | we | playing? | ||
| Where | will | they | be | swimming? |
| Why | she | cooking? | ||
| he | ||||
| it |
Why will they be studying this time tomorrow?
Why will they be studying at this time tomorrow?
What will she be painting?
What will she paint?
Today you got acquainted with the last continuous tense. If you have not read it, I advise you to read the following articles:
- Present Continuous Tense - present continuous tense in English
- Past Continuous Tense - past continuous tense in English
If you have any questions, be sure to ask them in the comments.
Reinforcement task
Now let's put this knowledge into practice. Translate the following sentences:
1. He will do this research all year.
2. My friends won't study all summer.
3. Will they climb the mountain all day?
4. I will graduate from university next year.
5. My sister won't walk the dog from 3 to 4.
6. Where will they play?
7. Her parents will work in the garden.
8. She will be preparing dinner at this time.
9. What will she cook?
10. How long will it take you to do your homework?
Leave your answers in the comments below the article.
When talking about the future, native speakers tend to make it easy for themselves to use time Simple groups or the construction to be going to. However, if you delve deeper into the study of the English language and its tenses, you will find greater diversity, expressed by the groups “continuus” and “perfect”. They are not at all inferior to their “colleagues”, but are used in exceptional cases to express certain situations. To understand these features better, let's look at how one of the mentioned tenses is formed and when it is used, namely the Future Continuous.
Future Continuous Tense or future continuous tense in English is a tense used to express actions that will happen at a certain point in the future. In other words, it is time that focuses on a process in the future, without paying attention to the beginning or expected completion of the action.
You can understand when to use the Future Continuous using special words or context. In both the first and second cases, this is not at all difficult to do, but let’s first dwell on the rules of education and the forms of this time.
Future Continuous Tense is formed using two verbs: auxiliary and semantic. The auxiliary verb is English verb to be in the future tense. Initially, it had two forms depending on the face:
| Pronouns /
Pronouns |
tobe in the future tense |
| I | shall be |
| He |
Nowadays the shall be form is used quite rarely, so when forming this tense, always give preference to the will be form for a more natural sound.
The semantic verb form uses Participle I or the present participle. Such verbs are formed according to the following formula: the to is removed from the infinitive of the verb and the ending –ing is added:
At first glance, with the addition of the ending, everything is very clear. However, there are certain words for which the rule above changes slightly:
- If a word ends in -e, that letter is dropped and -ing is added. For double –e it works standard rule. Let's compare:
- If a short verb ends in a consonant preceded by a vowel, the consonant is doubled and the ending –ing is added. The rule does not apply to words ending in –x and –w.
- Doubling –r depends on the presence or absence of a diphthong before it:
- If a word ends in –l in British English it is always doubled:
Future Continuous: sentence forms
Forming verbs alone is not enough; you need to understand how to use these verbs in various sentences.
Affirmative sentences Future Continuous
The affirmative form maintains direct word order, so in it both verbs as predicates come after the subject. Formula for clarity:
But problems can arise with the formula in the passive voice. The fact is that the passive voice for use in the Future Continuous tense is usually not used, because a number of verbs in such a sentence (for example, “will be being done”) sound at least strange.
Negative sentences Future Continuous
To form a negative form before the auxiliary the verb will add a negative particle not:
Both forms have shortened versions that are more common in speech:
| Full form | Short form | |
| +
statement |
I will be singing. She will be dancing. He will be playing the guitar. |
I'll be singing. She'll be dancing. He'll be playing the guitar. |
| —
negation |
We will not be eating. You will not be practicing. They will not be checking. |
We won't be eating. You won't be practicing. They won't be checking. |
The obsolete form shall in the first case of contraction is similar to the verb will, and in the second it looks like shan’t.
Future Continuous Interrogative Sentences
The interrogative form is built according to the type of question:
- IN general issues will is placed before the subject:
- In an alternative question, a word for choice is added to the form, expressed by a second subject / predicate / minor member sentences, and the conjunction or (or).
- In a special question, the general form is preserved, but a question word is added before the auxiliary verb:
- The disjunctive question retains the affirmative and negative forms, followed by a short question:
Future Continuous: usage
Having studied how verbs of the future continuous tense are formed and how they should be used in various forms proposals, all that remains is to understand in what cases this time is used.
- Future Continuous Tense is used when it is necessary to express an action that will last at a certain moment in the future. In such cases, sentences often contain temporary indicators:
- at 5 o’clock (at 5 o’clock),
- tonight at 9 (today at 9),
- tomorrow at 4 in the morning (tomorrow at 4 am),
- this time tomorrow / the day after tomorrow (at the same time tomorrow / the day after tomorrow),
- this time next week / month / year (at the same time on next week/ month / year),
- in a week / month / year (in a week / month / year),
— in the morning / afternoon / evening (morning / afternoon / evening),
- at noon / midday (at noon),
- at night (at night),
- at midnight (at midnight).
Table with examples:
| I will be painting the picture this time the day after tomorrow. | I will be painting a picture at this time the day after tomorrow. |
| This time tomorrow I’ll be enjoying my vacation on the beach. | Tomorrow at this time I will be enjoying my holiday on the beach. |
| He’ll be doing an internship in a month. | In a month he will undergo an internship. |
| Ryan will be performing here the day after tomorrow at 7 p.m. | Ryan will be performing here the day after tomorrow at 7 pm. |
| They will be playing tennis tomorrow at 6 p.m. | They will play tennis tomorrow at 6 pm. |
| I’ll be watching a horror film at 11 o’clock in the evening. | I will be watching a horror film at 11 pm. |
| Mike will be dancing at 3 in the afternoon. | Mike will be dancing at 3pm. |
| They will be flying to Finland at 4 a.m. | At 4 o'clock in the morning they will fly to Finland. |
That is, if you contact the people above at the specified time, they will be in the process of performing their actions. Moreover, it is unknown when they began to carry them out, how long it will last, and when it will end. The action will simply be executed at that specific time.
- The process of action in the Future Continuous can be expressed not by time markers, but by subordinate clauses of condition and time, for the introduction of which conjunctions such as if (if) and when (when) are used:
It is possible to use the conjunction while (while) to show that one action will last against the background of another:
- Context may also indicate that future actions will last at some point:
- The Future Continuous is used for actions that will occur at a certain period in the future, but not necessarily continuously. In such constructions the following marker words are used: all day long (all day), during the year (during the year), in spring (spring), in November (in November), the whole week / month / year (whole week / month year). As you can see, these markers cover a large period of time, but this does not mean that the action will take place continuously:
| She will be reading Pride and Prejudice during the summer. | That is, in the summer she will be in the process of reading, but this does not mean that for all 3 months she will read a book without getting up. |
| I’ll be learning English tenses in August. (In August I will study English tenses.) |
I will study, but not all day long. |
| They will be making a movie the whole day. (They will film the film all day.) |
The process may be interrupted for a break, a change of location, costumes, characters. |
| I'll be doing my homework all day long. (I will do my homework all day.) |
I can relax from time to time, go for a drink, talk on the phone, have lunch, dinner. |
| The students will be taking exams the whole month. (Students will take exams for a whole month.) |
They will rent the whole month, but not every second of it. It is possible that there will be 2 exams, but since the action will take place at a specific moment (this month), the future continuous tense is used. |
- The future continuous tense in English can also be used when we want to ask someone for something and therefore ask about their plans. Such sentences are often used in Russian when a person from afar begins to hint that he needs help.
- The future continuous tense is also characterized by actions in the future, the commission of which the interlocutor is confident of, since an agreement or coincidence of circumstances pushes him to do so. In the latter case, they are more often used negative sentences. Study the table with examples:
- The future continuous tense also expresses actions that will take place in the near future. Usually such actions are already planned in advance:
You may have noticed that in such examples the verbs are translated in the present tense. The fact is that this Future Continuous Tense value is used as an alternative Present Continuous Tense, which performs exactly the same function in a sentence. Accordingly, both Future and Present Continuous tenses are acceptable in this case.
- Future Continuous Tense can also replace Future Simple Tense:
However, there is a slight difference in the use of these two tenses. Comparing the two sentences in the table, you can see that the Future Simple is used to invite a person or show interest in his appearance, while the Future Continuous is used to simply find out about the plans of the interlocutor. A couple more examples:
- Do not forget that when using state verbs or state verbs, the Continuous tense cannot be used. This tense form is incomparable with stative verbs, since they show a state and, accordingly, cannot last. But this does not mean that you cannot communicate with such verbs. It is enough to use them in the simple future tense.
These were all cases of using the future continuous tense. It is not used so often and in almost the same situations, so you should not be afraid of it. Try to periodically return to this topic, come up with your own proposals, and even better, situations in which this time would be acceptable. Try to test yourself by completing the Future Continuous exercises on our website. And most importantly, communicate with native speakers: ask them questions, try to fully understand them and feel the language, then learning English will only bring you pleasure.
