English lesson 2: The Future

“What’s Happening in the Future?”

Talking about future events or plans is very common in daily conversation. Most Japanese know how to use the pattern Will + verb or Going to + verb to express the future, but I want to mention another natural way. It’s normal to talk about actions that will happen in the future in the action tense, or in other words, verb + ing tense. For example, the typical way to explain a future plan is to say “I will go to Japan.” From this sentence we don’t know exactly when the event will happen, but it will happen sometime in the near or distant future. Let’s make it a little more challenging now. I’m going to teach you how to talk about other people’s future plans as well as your own. The pattern for this is similar to the normal way, but we use the verb+ing instead. You can even mix in contractions. Remember, contractions are words like, “Do not= don’t, He will= He’ll.” For example, instead of saying, “They will arrive on Monday” I use the verb + ing form “They’re arriving on Monday”. It’s the same thing, but it sounds more natural instead of like textbook English. Let’s look at another example in question form. “Are they staying at the Marriott hotel?” I’m going to give you some good verb + ing combinations below to help you practice on your own. Let’s take a look.

Key words:
They aren’t leaving on Thursday
They’re making dinner next week
I’m not expecting anyone tomorrow
She’s saving money for a trip to Europe
He’s waiting for his brother until 3 pm.
We’re not arriving until the 23rd of December
It’s sleeping on the porch at night
Is he taking the class on Wednesdays?
Are you staying over at Julie’s?
Are they preparing the taxes for next year?

Here are some situational examples:
Example: Two friends
(Casual):
w Did Ben change his plans?
u Yeah, he isn’t leaving on Thursday anymore.


Example: Two co-workers
(Everyday)
w When are they going to have the company Christmas party?
u They’re making dinner for everyone next week.

Example: Boss to manager
(Formal):
w Technically, tomorrow is a holiday.
u Then I’m not expecting anyone to show up for work tomorrow.