General English Level 2 V 3
UNIT 05 Personal Plans TOPIC 01 What are you doing tonight?
LANGUAGE FOCUS 03 Using the present continuous tense to talk about the future
Learn one way to tell people what you are doing in the future.

Talking about plans and arrangements in the future

Jessica and Naomi say:
Jessica:
Are you doing anything on the weekend?
Naomi:
Yes. On Saturday I'm taking my niece to the zoo. We're having lunch afterwards and then we're catching the ferry home.

Jessica and Naomi say:
Naomi:
How about you and Tim? What are you doing on the weekend?
Jessica:
Um, nothing special. On Saturday Tim's going to the gym and I'm going to the hairdresser.

We can use the present continuous tense to talk about future plans and arrangements. We use this tense when we are sure about the plans or arrangements. We often use the present continuous tense with time phrases. For example next month, tomorrow, this weekend, next month, on Friday, tonight.

What are you doing…?
Are you doing anything…? 		this afternoon.
tomorrow.
on Sunday.
next week.
on the weekend.
I am meeting friends
'm
You are playing football
're
She is doing a photography course
's
He is going sailing
's
We are getting married
're
They are going away
're

Examples

Are you doing anything on Saturday? Yes, I'm going to the beach.
Who are you going with? I'm going with my friend.
What time are you leaving ? We're leaving at 9 am.
What are you doing on Friday night? We're going to the theatre.
Where are they going for their holidays? They're going to Thailand.
What's she doing on Sunday? She's having coffee with a friend.

Now go to 04 WRITING Talking about the future.