Future Inmediato

Formación

Al referirnos a un futuro inmediato, podemos emplear una construcción

compuesta de tres elementos:
el verbo "to be" conjugado en presente + about + infinitivo del verbo
principal

Sujet + to be + about (o "just + infinitivo

o about")

I am about to be sick

They are about to arrive.

It is just about to explode.

To leave, en futuro inmediato

Afirmativa Negativa Interrogativa Interrogativa

negativa

I am about to I am not about Am I about to Am I not about to

leave. to leave. leave? leave?

You are about You are not Are you about to Aren't you about
to leave. about to leave. leave? to leave?

He is about to He is not about Is he about to Isn't he about to

leave. to leave. leave? leave?

We are about We aren't Are we about to Aren't we about

 Afirmativa Negativa Interrogativa Interrogativa
negativa

to leave. about to leave. leave? to leave?

They are about They aren't Are they about Aren't they about
to leave. about to leave. to leave? to leave?

Funciones

Esta construcción se emplea para referirse a un tiempo inmediatamente

posterior al momento de hablar y enfatiza que el evento o acción
sucederán muy pronto. A menudo, se añade el término "just" antes
de "about" para enfatizar aún más la inmediatez de la acción.

Ejemplos
 She is about to cry.
 You are about to see something very unusual.
 I am about to go to a meeting.
 We are just about to go inside.
 Sally is just about to jump off that diving board.

Esta construcción puede también utilizarse con el "simple past" del

verbo "to be" en lugar del presente, para referirse a una acción o evento
que eran inminentes pero fueron interrumpidos. En este caso, suele ir
seguida de una frase que empieza por "when".

Ejemplos
 She was about to leave when Jim arrived.
 When it started to rain, I was about to go out for a walk.
 I was just about to call her when she walked in.
 The car was just about to flip over when he regained control.