Looking forward from a point in the past
Sometimes we talk about something that was still in the future at an earlier moment — a plan, an intention or an obligation we had then. English marks this with special future-in-the-past forms, and they very often describe things that didn't happen. Pick a form, then choose the outcome and watch the ending change. (El futuro visto desde un punto del pasado: los planes, obligaciones y promesas de entonces.)
1 · The form
2 · What happened in the end?
Then vs now: the same future, one step back
A future form seen from the past moves one step back, exactly as in reported speech (Grammar 7): will → would, am going to → was going to. Time words move too: tonight → that night, tomorrow → the next day. (La forma de futuro retrocede un paso; también las palabras de tiempo.)
Which form, and what it really means
Errors Spanish speakers make
Read the sentence, find the problem, then tap Fix to check. (Errores típicos: adivina la corrección antes de verla.)
👩🏫 For the teacher — how this page maps to the manual
- Explore is Grammar 13's viewpoint: a THEN marker in the past looking forward to a planned moment before NOW, with the six forms of the manual (was going to, was supposed to, would, past continuous, was about to, was to) and an outcome toggle that shows the but rule (exception 4). The dial is the "one step back" idea (will → would, Grammar 7); the special-cases card is the manual's five exceptions plus the two story forms; the errors card is the pitfall list plus the homework error hunt.
- Build is productive: students assemble a sentence by choosing the form for a described situation (exercises A, B and D), then transform situations into future-in-the-past sentences (exercise C, Task set 30 and the Unit 5 review), with validation.
- Drill merges the quizzes into one graded engine (★ choose the form & its meaning · ★★ fix the error (was go to, was suppose, we was) & complete · ★★★ report it, would to, about to, would as a habit) with a score and streak.
- Works offline. Reading/writing only — no audio.
Build a then-future
Read the situation and ask: plan · obligation · prediction/report · arrangement · on the point of? Then choose the form. The machine builds the sentence — guess before you check.
Drill — one flow, three levels
★ choose the form & its meaning · ★★ fix the error & complete · ★★★ report it, about to, would as a habit. Keep your streak alive. (Igual escalera que tu Cuaderno de tareas.)