Going to

There is no one 'future tense' in English. There are 4 future forms. The one which is used most often in spoken English is 'going to', not 'will'.

We use 'going to' when we want to talk about a plan for the future.

• I'm going to see him later today.
• They're going to launch it next month.
• We're going to have lunch first.
• She's going to see what she can do.
• I'm not going to talk for very long.

Notice that this plan does not have to be for the near future.

• When I retire I'm going to go back to Barbados to live.
• In ten years time, I'm going to be boss of my own successful company.

We use 'going to' when we want to make a prediction based on evidence we can see now.

• Look out! That cup is going to fall off.
• Look at those black clouds. It's going to rain soon.
• These figures are really bad. We're going to make a loss.
• You look very tired. You're going to need to stop soon.

We can replace 'going to go' by 'going'.

• I'm going out later.
• She's going to the exhibition tomorrow.