Tenses · CEFR B2 · Confident
Future in the past — English tenses
Looking forward from a point in the past. Very often it carries the sense that the plan did not happen.
The shape
was / were going to + verb · would + verb
Say what you had planned but did not do.
In Hindi
बीते किसी पल से आगे देखने के लिए। अक्सर इसका मतलब होता है कि वह योजना पूरी नहीं हुई।
CoCap explains every structure in both languages, because a rule you understand in Hindi is a rule you can use in English.
The mistake to fix first
The sentence Indian-English speakers actually produce, and the reason it is wrong.
| Commonly said | Correct English |
|---|---|
I will go, but it rained. | I was going to go, but it rained. The plan was in the past, so the looking-forward has to be in the past too. |
Learn these first
These come first. The rest of this makes more sense once they are automatic.
- Future: going toA2Talk about plans you have already made
- Past SimpleA1Tell somebody what happened yesterday
Questions people ask
- What is the future in the past used for?
- Looking forward from a point in the past. Very often it carries the sense that the plan did not happen. In practice: say what you had planned but did not do.
- How do you form the future in the past?
- was / were going to + verb · would + verb.
- What is the most common mistake with the future in the past?
- Saying “I will go, but it rained.” instead of “I was going to go, but it rained.”. The plan was in the past, so the looking-forward has to be in the past too.
Where future in the past fits
Where this structure sits in the ladder, and what surrounds it.
Future in the past is a CEFR B2 structure — the confident band — and it belongs to tenses. CoCap’s syllabus files every structure this way so you can learn in order instead of jumping between whatever a search happened to return.
Reading it is not the same as saying it.
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