There are two important future tenses. They are future “will” tense and future “going to” tense.

Future “will” tense looks like this:

Will you drink a cup of coffee with me?

Yes, I will.

or

What will I do tonight? I know! I will watch TV!

We use future “will” tense for an action in the future if we speak spontaneously. That means I have a thought and I speak at at about the same time.

Future “going to” tense looks like this:

Are you going to watch TV night?

No, I am not.

or

What are you going to do tonight?

I am going to study and then I am going to go to bed early.

We use future “going to” tense for future plans. That means I made the plan before I spoke.

Follow the link to see more examples of future “going to” tense in context.

Present Continuous Tense and Future “going to” Tense

Do not confuse present continuous tense and future “going to” tense.

Present continuous tense:

I am going home. (”going to”plus place)

I am going to school. (”going to” plus place)

I am going to Africa. (”going to” plus place)

Future “going to” Tense:

I am going to go home. (”going to” plus verb plus place)

I am going to study. (”going to” plus verb)

I am going to sleep. (”going to” plus verb)

Present Continuous Tense (with future meaning)

Sometimes we use present continuous tense with a future meaning, for example:

I am going to Argentina next year.

but not!

I am going to Argentina now.