English Grammar Reference: Will

Of course we use will in English but not as often as you might think. Here is when we use it:

• To make an immediate decision

What would you like to eat?
I'll have a ham sandwich please.

• To make an offer

You see that someone needs your help and so you offer to help him:

I'll carry that for you.
I'll lend you 10 euros.
I'll help you.

• To make a promise

I'll pay you back tomorrow.
I'll call you tomorrow.
I'll write to you.

• To make a prediction

Manchester Utd will win the Champions League.
It will be hot next summer.
Barack Obama will change America.

Be careful. If we make a prediction "using our mind", that is thinking about what will happen at some point in the future, we use will. If we make a prediction "using our senses ", that is with our eyes, ears, nose, mouth or by touching, we have to use to be going to:

Look at those clouds! It's going to rain.
Look at that man. He's so drunk he's going to fall.

• In the first conditional

If it's hot tomorrow, I'll go to the beach.

• In the future continuous

I'll be sleeping at midnight tonight.

• In the future perfect simple

I'll have been to China by 2020.

• In the future perfect continuous

I'll have been living here for 10 years by December.

The most common future form in English is to be going to.

 

See also:

English Grammar Reference: Differences between going to, present continuous and will