Past with 'Going to'

There are times that we are narrating a story and we want to talk about past plans that did not happen. In this case, we use past with going to.

intermediate

What Is Past with 'Going to'?

It is typically more common to use 'be + going to' to talk about the future in the English language, but it is also one of the ways to talk about the past. It is better to say, using 'be going to' is one of the ways to talk about what you intended to do in the past.

Structure

The sentence pattern using 'be going to' for past tense is:
subject + was/were + going to + infinitive verb

Tip!

Usually, you use be going to to refer to a plan or prediction that did not happen.

Note that when you are talking about the event that did not happen, you usually mention the reason. For example:

I was going to study for an hour, but I fell asleep.

I was going to the bank that suddenly I heard her crying.

Using 'Going to' to Talk about Plans in the Past

Be Going to: Uses

'Be going to' is commonly used in informal situations to talk about plans. It has different uses:

Predictions
Plans and Arrangements

Predictions

We use be going to in the past tense to refer to events that we expected or predicted to happen at some point in the past. Here are the examples:

He was going to study.

The speaker in this example means he did not study, but he had planned to.

We were going to leave.

The speakers in this example mean they did not leave, but they had intended to.

Plans and Arrangements

We can use 'be going to' in the past tense to talk about what we planned to be done in the past, but mostly they did not happen. Check out the examples!

She was going to give her speech, but the earthquake happened.

I was going to Rome last summer.

Review

'Be going to' can be used to talk about events that were supposed to happen. However, you cannot decide whether they happened or not unless there is background information.
'Be going to' is used to express past:

Predictions and expectations
Plans and arrangements

Future Perfect

The future perfect tense is an advanced tense; it will allow you to speak about the future in a really interesting way that may not exist in your own language.

Future Perfect Continuous

This is one of the most advanced tenses in the English language. So, congratulation on reaching this level. Let's start to learn this tense.

Future with 'Going to'

Anything after now is the future, and in English, we have many ways and tenses to talk about the future. Some are more basic and some are more advanced.

Talking about the Present

When you talk, the verbs should agree with the orders of events. That's why We will learn how and when to use the present tense in this lesson.

Talking about the Past

What if we want to narrate something that happened in the past? In this case, we will need to know the past tense.

Talking about the Future

Sometimes we need to talk about our plans, wishes, & arrangements that have not happened yet and are related to the future.

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