What Is the Future Progressive Tense? (with Examples)

by Craig Shrives

Future Progressive Tense

The future progressive tense is used for an ongoing action that will occur in the future. For example:
  • John will be baking a cake.
  • They will be painting the fence.

A Video Summary

Here is a short video summarizing the future progressive tense:

Infographic for the Future Perfect Tense

Here is an infographic explaining the future progressive tense:

future progressive tense

Examples of the Future Progressive Tense

Here are some examples of the future progressive tense (shaded):
  • The Moscow State Circus will be performing in Cheltenham for the next 3 weeks.
  • We will be celebrating like kings if it works.
  • The next time you see a spider's web, please pause and look a little closer. Youwill be seeing one of the most high-performance materials known to man. (Biologist Cheryl Hayashi)
  • She'll be coming around the mountain when she comes.
    • ("She'll" is a contraction of "she will.")

Forming the Future Progressive Tense

The future progressive tense is formed like this:
"will be"
+
[present participle ("verb-ing")]


(This is the construction for singular and plural.)

Forming the Present Participle

The word that ends "-ing" is known as a present participle. It is formed like this:

Add "ing" to most verbs:
  • play > playing
  • shout > shouting
For verbs that end "e," remove the "e" and add "ing":
  • prepare > preparing
  • ride > riding
For verbs that end "ie," change the "ie" to "y" and add "ing":
  • lie > lying
  • untie > untying
For verbs whose last syllable is written [consonant-vowel-consonant] and is stressed, double the final consonant and add "ing":
  • run > running
  • forget > forgetting

The Negative Version

If you need the negative version, you can use the following construction:
"will not be"
+
[present participle]
  • The Moscow State Circus will not be performing in Cheltenham for the next 3 weeks.
  • We will not be celebrating like kings if it fails.
Remember that "will not be" can be said or written (especially in informal writing) as the contraction "won't be."

The Question Version

If you need to ask a question, you can use the following word order for a yes/no question:
"will"
+
[subject]
+
"be"
+
[present participle]
  • Will the Moscow State Circus be performing in Washington?
  • Will we be celebrating like kings?
You can use the following word order for a question-word question:
[question word]
+
"will"
+
[subject]
+
"be"
+
[present participle]
  • When will the Moscow State Circus be performing in Cheltenham?
  • Why will we be celebrating like kings?
You can use the following word order for a choice question:
"will"
+
[subject]
+
"be"
+
[present participle]
+ +
choice A
+
or
+
choice B
  • Will the Moscow State Circus be performing in New York or Washington?
"will"
+
[subject]
+
"be"
+
present participle A
+
or
+
present participle B
  • Will we be celebrating like kings commiserating like paupers?

Verb Tense Widget

Use this widget to learn about the different tenses. How do you use this widget? Well, if there's a button, a drop-down menu, or a , you can click it!
to base form

( verb)

Select the tenses.

Present Tenses

Past Tenses

Future Tenses

Other Future Tenses

The future progressive tense is one of four future tenses. This table shows all four of the future tenses:
The 4 Future Tenses Example
simple future tense I will go
future progressive tense I will be going
future perfect tense I will have gone
future perfect progressive I will have been going

Slider Showing All the Tenses

The following slider shows all 12 tenses. The future progressive tense is highlighted with a yellow background.
Interactive Exercise
Here are three randomly selected questions from a larger exercise, which can be edited, printed to create an exercise worksheet, or sent via email to friends or students.

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See Also

Take a test on the future progressive tense Tenses Simple past tense Past progressive tense Past perfect tense Past perfect progressive tense Simple present tense Present progressive tense Present perfect tense Present perfect progressive tense Simple future tense Future perfect tense Future perfect progressive tense