"Will" and the future tense.
Help me understand how "will" affects the future tense, I.E., "The opera will be on Monday" as opposed to "I am going to the opera on Monday". Email me at langsa@mhs-pa.org
9 Answers
Sorry but the two sentences don't mean exactly the same thing. In English we use "will" when we want to describe a spontaneous decision in the future. We use "going to + verb" to descibe an intention in the future.
e.g.
John: What are you going to do on the weekend?
Harry: I don't have any plans, what about you?
John: I am going to go to a bar, do you want to come?
Harry: I am not sure.
John: Come on
Harry: Oh o.k., I'll go then.
In that discussion "going to + verb" was used to describe an intention but "I will (I'll)" was used to describe a spontaneous decision made about the future.
The present continuous is used to describe an arrangment about the future. We almost always use the present continuous to talk about vacations because the buying of the plane ticket nad the reserving of the hotel constitutes an arrangement in English, not just an intention.
The ideas behind why we use the will, going to +verb or the present continuous in English don't always translate directly into Spanish and therefore direct translations don't always pass on the exact meaning we intend.
I am a Japanese-English translator, but I have taught English in the past, and I don't think it serves students to give them an explanation just for the sake of placating them. Sometimes a teacher must say "Just because we say it that way." If you give your students a concrete rule about how to use these different future forms, they will only be confused later when they hear natives using them synonymously. However, I do see what you are saying, and it's probably good to teach your students the general rule.
I said that the following have the same meaning:
I'm going to the opera on Monday
I'll be going to the opera on Monday
I'll go to the opera on Monday
I'll add a fourth:
I'm going to go to the opera on Monday
Of course, not all of these could be used in every situation (in response to every question). For example, if someone asked "Are you coming to the baseball game'," I could reply with numbers 1, 2, and 4 above, but usually not 3. So, strictly speaking, you are correct that these are not "exactly" the same, but my post was given in reply to a very vaguely worded question, whose real aim was not yet clear to me.
As the three ways of talking about the future are not interchanable in all situations they cannot be considered to have the same meaning in practice. I concede that there are situations where all three can be used without any obvious change in meaning (if at all) but when talking without analyzing native speakers tend to use will to describe a *spontaneous decision going to + verb to describe a future intention and the present continuous to describe a future arrangement.
I do however wish to qualify my answer further. I am an E.S.L. teacher and this way of explaining the difference between the three is accepted as the way of translating the meaning to English as a second language learners. If I were to offer no proper explanation as to the difference in usage and meaning I would not remain an E.S.L teacher for much longer. I believe, James, that you are a Spanish teacher (if I am wrong then I apologise) and surely must appreciate that the most important explanation a teacher can give is one that the students understand and one that leads the students to produce correct grammatical sentences most of the time. There are obviously exceptions to all rules we can apply to grammar but I don't feel that these invalidate said rules in either English or Spanish teaching.
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James Santiago said:
Sorry but the two sentences don't mean exactly the same thing.Then what do you say the difference is? I didn't say that the simple future and the present continuous always mean the same thing, and limited my comment to the three (not two) sentences I gave. To me, the meaning is the same in all three. Sure, I might be able to analyze the structure and come up with some theoretical difference, but in practice, they are identical.
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Sorry but the two sentences don't mean exactly the same thing.
Then what do you say the difference is? I didn't say that the simple future and the present continuous always mean the same thing, and limited my comment to the three (not two) sentences I gave. To me, the meaning is the same in all three. Sure, I might be able to analyze the structure and come up with some theoretical difference, but in practice, they are identical.
Sam said:
What does irán translate directly to? In other words, "I am going to school at 7" VS. "I will go to school at 7". Which equals "Yo iré a la escuela a siete"?
As James has already pointed out, the two English sentences mean the same thing. Translating means taking an idea expressed in one language and expressing the same idea in another language. Depending on how similar the languages are, the same idea may (or may not) be expressed in the same way (i.e. with parallel grammatical constructs). If your personal definition of "translating directly" leads you to insist that the English sentence contain the simple future tense of the verb "to go" (just because the Spanish sentence does) then you'll have to go with the 2nd sentence. However, such a definition (of "translate") will surely get you into trouble because there will be many (very many) sentences which will be impossible to translate (as you are using the term).
P.S. Iré a la escuela a las siete.
Alright. Thank you. This clarifies it.
James Santiago said:
What does irán translate directly to'(They) will go.In other words, "I am going to school at 7" VS. "I will go to school at 7". Which equals "Yo iré a la escuela a siete"'Both do. Actually, you shouldn't think in terms of "equals" in language, since it is not like mathematics, and is much more gray and fuzzy. "Equivalent" would be closer. Tenses are used differently in English and Spanish, so you can't just automatically plug in the translation of a tense."I will go to school at 7" might be said in the following ways in Spanish, depending on the context.Iré a la escuela a las 7.Voy a la escuela a las 7.Voy a ir a la escuela a las 7.However, it would NEVER be "Estoy yendo a la escuela a las 7," because although the present continuous can be used in English for future actions, it can NOT be used for them in Spanish.
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What does irán translate directly to'
(They) will go.
In other words, "I am going to school at 7" VS. "I will go to school at 7". Which equals "Yo iré a la escuela a siete"'
Both do. Actually, you shouldn't think in terms of "equals" in language, since it is not like mathematics, and is much more gray and fuzzy. "Equivalent" would be closer. Tenses are used differently in English and Spanish, so you can't just automatically plug in the translation of a tense.
"I will go to school at 7" might be said in the following ways in Spanish, depending on the context.
Iré a la escuela a las 7.
Voy a la escuela a las 7.
Voy a ir a la escuela a las 7.
However, it would NEVER be "Estoy yendo a la escuela a las 7," because although the present continuous can be used in English for future actions, it can NOT be used for them in Spanish.
Okay. The project I'm working on is English to Spanish. I understand how to conjugate Spanish in the future tense, but I get confused when it comes to translating "will sell, will go, will be, will play, etc." The future tense of ir in the ellos form would be irán. What does irán translate directly to? In other words, "I am going to school at 7" VS. "I will go to school at 7". Which equals "Yo iré a la escuela a siete"'
Sam, I'm afraid I don't understand your question. The future tense in English is formed by adding "will." Also, we use the present continuous for future actions, but this is just a convention. "I am going to the opera on Monday" is exactly the same as "I will be going to the opera on Monday" and "I will go to the opera on Monday."
Are you asking about English or Spanish, and what exactly is your question'
