Can a word which is a "third person singular present indicative" ever refer to a FUTURE event?

Question

Is it possible?

Answer 1

It is.

Answer 2

Many languages do not distinguish future from present tenses, or do so only partially.

'He is arriving tomorrow' is formally a present tense, but refers to a future event.

You can argue over whether this is an example of present tense with future signification - but most grammarians would just accept it is and devote their energy to more worthwhile tasks.

Answer 3

Well, the answer is yes, but you have to look at the contruction, for the contruction is the one that actually refers to the future. It's not really a tense in itself, but carries that connotation.

Such a construction has to have auxiliar verbs/clauses such as in the following examples:

"He is *to be* the king" or,

"He is *going to* be the king* (future progressive) or,

"He is *on the way of being* the king".

But, "He is the king" by itself does not have any future tense connotation by itself.

Cheers.