To be fixin’ to do something is a Southern American regional idiom meaning to be on the verge of doing something momentarily, or getting immediately ready to take action.
While standard reference sources often confuse fixin’ to with general future expressions like “planning to” or “going to,” native speakers use it strictly for imminent action, things happening in the immediate present or next few moments.
Direct Meaning: “Fixin’ To” vs. Similar Expressions
To understand how fixin’ to functions in natural speech, it helps to contrast it with other common future-tense markers:
Fixin’ To vs. Going To (Immediacy)
- Going to: Covers any point in the future, near or far (“I’m going to buy a house next year”).
- Fixin’ to: Strictly limited to the immediate present (“I’m fixin’ to walk out the door”). You cannot use fixin’ to for events days, weeks, or months away.
Fixin’ To vs. About To (The Buffer for Delay)
While fixin’ to is closest in meaning to about to, they differ in how much immediate delay they allow:
- About To (Immediate Execution): Signals that an action is happening in the next immediate second with virtually no gap or interruption (e.g., “I’m about to walk out the door”). Adding a delay to “about to” often feels contradictory.
- Fixin’ To (Accommodating a Delay): Explicitly creates a buffer for micro-delays and preparations. It signals that you are on the verge of doing something, but accommodates the brief tasks, quick conversations, or small distractions that happen right before you start.
Example: It is completely natural to say, “I’m fixin’ to go to the store, but I need to grab my keys and make a quick call first.” Here, fixin’ to establishes your immediate trajectory while politely accounting for the brief pause before execution.
Fixin’ To vs. Planning To (Decision Made)
- Planning to: Indicates mental consideration, scheduling, or tentative intent (“I’m planning to clean the garage this weekend”).
- Fixin’ to: Implies that planning is over and execution has begun. It has nothing to do with abstract future planning; the speaker is actively moving toward the task.
Grammatical Variations & “Finna”
Because fixin’ to originated as a spoken dialectal phrase, it appears in several distinct phonetic and regional forms:
- Fixing to: The formal or unreduced written spelling (e.g., “I am fixing to leave”).
- Fixin’ to: The standard representation of Southern and Appalachian speech, dropping the final g.
- Finna: A heavy phonetic contraction (fixing to → fixina → finna) widely used in African American Vernacular English (AAVE) and modern internet culture. Like fixin’ to, finna communicates immediate, imminent action (“I’m finna head out”).
Origin & Mechanics: “Fixing” as Preparation
The idiom derives from an older, standard 18th-century sense of the verb fix, which meant “to arrange, set in order, or prepare” (the same sense used when someone says “I’ll fix dinner” or “fix a drink”).
Over time, Southern American English paired the progressive form (fixing) with the infinitive (to) to create an aspectual marker, a phrase that specifically describes the stage of an action right as it is starting. By the mid-19th century, fixin’ to was firmly established as a hallmark of Southern, Southwestern, and Appalachian regional dialects.
Sentence Examples
“Hold on a second, I’m fixin’ to call you right back.”
“Put your shoes on; we’re fixin’ to leave for the grocery store.”
“I was fixin’ to start the dishes when the phone rang.”
Similar and Related Expressions
- About To: The closest standard English equivalent for immediate action.
- On the Verge Of: About to experience or perform something momentarily.
- Finna: The compressed AAVE dialectal variant of fixin’ to.
- Getting Ready To: Making final preparations right before an action