Talking about the future: 会, 要 and 将
Chinese has no future tense. 会 predicts what is likely, 要 announces a plan or something imminent, and 将 is the written-register marker.
Structure
主语 + 会 + 动词（+ 的）→ 预测 ｜ 主语 + 要 + 动词（+ 了）→ 打算、即将 ｜ 主语 + 将（要）+ 动词 → 书面语
Explanation
Chinese words in this text can be activated to show a dictionary gloss.
The first thing to say is that no marker is needed at all. A time word is usually enough: “I’m going to Beijing tomorrow.” Everything below adds a shade of meaning on top of that.
is a prediction: the speaker judges something likely. “It’ll rain tomorrow”, “He won’t come.” A final makes the prediction confident and is very common in reassurance: ， “Don’t worry, he’ll come.” Note that also means a learnt ability (); the future reading appears when the subject is an event rather than a skill.
announces an intention or a scheduled event: “I have a meeting to go to tomorrow.” Add a sentence-final and it becomes imminent: “I’m off now.” … and … sharpen this further — “The train’s about to leave.” The two are not identical: … can be pinned to a time (), … cannot.
and belong to written and formal spoken Chinese — announcements, news reports, official notices: “The meeting will be held tomorrow morning.” In conversation it sounds stiff; use or a plain time word instead.
The negatives are worth listing, since they are not symmetrical. negates a prediction: . For a plan, the negative is or — — because is a prohibition (“don’t”), not a refusal.
Correct
Say each one out loud before moving on. The audio is a reference pronunciation, not a model to imitate exactly — match the tone contour, not the voice.
明天会下雨吗？明天會下雨嗎？
Míngtiān (second tone, rising) huì (fourth tone, falling) xià (fourth tone, falling) yǔ (third tone, dipping) ma? (neutral tone)···
Is it going to rain tomorrow?
别担心，他会来的。別擔心，他會來的。
Bié (second tone, rising) dānxīn, (first tone, high and level) tā (first tone, high and level) huì (fourth tone, falling) lái (second tone, rising) de. (neutral tone)···
Don’t worry — he’ll come.
火车就要开了，快上车吧。火車就要開了，快上車吧。
Huǒchē (third tone, dipping) jiù (fourth tone, falling) yào (fourth tone, falling) kāi (first tone, high and level) le, (neutral tone) kuài (fourth tone, falling) shàng (fourth tone, falling) chē (first tone, high and level) ba. (neutral tone)···
The train is about to leave — get on quickly.
Incorrect — Common mistakes
These sentences are wrong. They are printed here on purpose, each one paired with the repair and the reason, because the error you can recognise is the error you stop making.
Not quite
Incorrect sentence: 我明天将去北京。
Correct
Correct sentence: 我明天要去北京。
Why: 将 belongs to written and official Chinese. In everyday speech about your own plans, 要 or a bare time word is what a native speaker uses.
Not quite
Incorrect sentence: 火车八点快要开了。
Correct
Correct sentence: 火车八点就要开了。
Why: 快要…了 cannot take a stated time; it only says “soon”. When you name the hour, the frame is 就要…了.
Not quite
Incorrect sentence: 你会去参加会议吗？
Correct
Correct sentence: 你要去参加会议吗？
Why: Asking about someone’s plan calls for 要. 会 would ask whether their attendance is likely, as if it were out of their hands.
Compared with
Most errors with this pattern are not errors about this pattern — they are a neighbouring pattern arriving at the wrong moment. Read these side by side.
要 and 会 both point forward, but they answer different questions. 要 answers “what are you going to do?” — it reports an intention or a fixed arrangement, and the subject is normally a person: 我明天要去开会. 会 answers “what do you think will happen?” — it reports the speaker’s estimate of likelihood, and the subject is often a thing or an event: 明天会下雨. That is why 你要去吗？ asks about your plan while 你会去吗？ asks whether you are likely to end up going. Remember too that the negative of the plan is 不想 or 不打算, since 不要 means “don’t”.
要 for wants, plans and the near future →会 wears two hats and the learner has to notice which one is on. With a skill, 会 means “have learnt how”: 我会游泳, 他会说三种语言 — and its negative 不会 means “can’t, never learnt”. With an event, the same 会 means “is likely to”: 明天会下雨, 他不会来. The subject usually tells you which: a person plus an activity you can train for is the ability reading; a weather event, an outcome or someone else’s behaviour is the prediction reading. 能 and 可以 never take on the prediction job, which is why 明天能下雨 is not Chinese.
Saying “can”: 会, 能 and 可以 →Mini quiz
Question 1 / 3Total score: 0
Choose the word that fits: you are guessing about tomorrow’s weather.
天气预报说，明天 ___ 下雨。