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Future in the past: I was going to…
B2 B2 grammar · lesson 16 of 21
Sometimes we talk about the future from a point in the past: plans we had, predictions we made, things that nearly happened. This lesson shows you the forms for that.
Rule
To talk about a future action seen from the past, we move the normal future forms one step back in time. Often the plan did not happen, or we don’t know if it happened.
| Future from now | Future in the past |
|---|---|
| I’m going to call you. | I was going to call you, but I forgot. |
| I think it will rain. | I thought it would rain. |
| We’re leaving at six. | We were leaving at six, so I packed early. |
| The film is about to start. | The film was about to start when I arrived. |
Uses
- was/were going to: a plan or intention in the past. It often did not happen: We were going to fly, but the tickets were too expensive.
- would: a prediction or promise in the past, also in reported speech (She said she would help, which you know from B1). It is also used in stories for what happened later: Ken met Lucy in 2010. Five years later he would marry her.
- was/were + -ing: an arrangement in the past.
- was/were about to + infinitive: something that was going to happen very soon. It often stops because something else happened.
I was going to study last night, but my friends came round.
Sorry, I was going to tell you, but I didn’t have time.
I knew the exam would be difficult.
Maria promised that she would write every week.
Leo couldn’t come because he was meeting his boss that afternoon.
We were about to leave when the phone rang.
Omar wasn’t going to say anything, but then he got angry.
Were you going to ask me something?
Common mistakes
✗ I was go to call you, but I forgot.
✓ I was going to call you, but I forgot.
✗ She told me she will come, but she didn’t.
✓ She told me she would come, but she didn’t.
✗ We were about leaving when it started to rain.
✓ We were about to leave when it started to rain.
Also notice was supposed to, which shows that something was planned or expected but did not happen: The train was supposed to arrive at five.