ABSTRACT
In English you can talk about the future in a number of different ways. You can use the future with ‘will’, as in ‘I’ll call you later’; a construction with ‘going to’, as in ‘It’s going to rain’; the present continuous, as in ‘I’m seeing Sue tomorrow’ or even the present simple, as in ‘I leave for Brazil in the morning’. In Portuguese, the options are to use the verb ir ‘to go’ followed by an infinitive, the present simple or the inflected future tense. The last is almost entirely restricted to the written language, narrowing the options down to two in the spoken language. In some cases these two forms are interchangeable, in others they are not. This chapter also considers expressions of intent with regard to the future.
