Constructions analogous to the English going-to future are found in some other languages, including French, Spanish and some varieties of Arabic.
[citation needed] The original construction involved physical movement with an intention, such as "I am going [outside] to harvest the crop."
In the grammatical first person, I'm gonna (which is, in full, I am going to) may further contract to I'm'n'a /ˈaɪmənə/ or Imma /ˈaɪmə/.
It can be put into question and negative forms according to the normal rules of English grammar.
Also the lexical use of going to is not subject to the contractions to gonna and similar: "I'm gonna get his autograph" clearly implies the future meaning (intention), and not the meaning "I'm going [somewhere] [in order] to get his autograph."
For example: In headline language the copula may be omitted, e.g. "Prime Minister to visit West Bank".
Compared with the will future, the be + to construction may be less expressive of a prediction, and more of the existence of a plan or duty.
[13] Examples include Jamaican English Creole[14] /de go hapm/ "is going to happen", /mi a go ɹon/ "I am going to run", Belizean Creole English /gwein/ or /gouɲ/, Gullah Uh gwine he'p dem "I'm going to help them", Hawaiian Creole English[15] /Ai gon bai wan pickup/ "I gonna buy one pickup", /Da gai sed hi gon fiks mi ap wit wan blain deit/ "The guy said he gonna fix me up with one blind date", and Haitian Creole[16] /Mwen va fini/ "I go finish".
[17] For example, the English sentence "I am going to do it tomorrow" can be translated by Je vais le faire demain (literally "I go it to do tomorrow"; French does not have a distinct present progressive form, so je vais stands for both "I go" and "I am going").
As in English, the French form can generally be replaced by the present or future tense: Je le fais demain ("I am doing it tomorrow") or Je le ferai demain ("I will do it tomorrow").
Likewise, the Spanish verb ir ("to go") can be used to express the future: Mi padre va a llegar mañana ("My father is going to arrive tomorrow").