Welcome back to the Learn English podcast, the
podcast teaching English in context so you can
learn naturally. On today's episode, I want to
discuss time and communicating when an event
took place or will take place in time. If this
is your first time watching or listening to an
episode, if this is your first time here, welcome.
You might not know that I am an English teacher.
I teach English online to students who are learning
it as a second language. And one of the points
of confusion that I get from my students is that
they're confused about how to tell when a event
occurred or will occur. They have difficulty
explaining if something happened in the past,
when it happened in the past, or if it's happening
in the future, how soon in the future it's going
to occur. There's a little bit of confusion of
how to word this, what phrases to say, and how
to communicate when an event took place or will
take place. Because of that, on today's episode,
I want to go over what a native speaker, what
an American English speaker would say if they're
trying to describe when an event took place.
If this sounds like you, if you are a little
bit confused about how to describe when an event
occurred or will occur, don't worry. We're going
to go over everything you need to know so you
can communicate effectively with a native speaker.
With that, let's begin. Before we start, I just
want to remind you that in the episode podcast
description, you will find a list of vocabulary
words and phrases that I use in this episode
so you can incorporate them into your vocabulary
learning system and start using them in conversation
yourself. You can find these vocabulary lists
in this episode and in previous episodes so you
can help expand your knowledge of English. Let's
talk about how to describe when something occurs
in time, events that have occurred in the past.
Of course, if something happened the day before
today, we would say yesterday. This happened
yesterday. If it's been more than one day, though,
there's different ways you can say it. Let's
say something happened two days ago. So you would
just say that this happened two days ago, three
days ago. four days ago. You can use that days
ago to describe how many days it's been since
the certain event happened. You can also keep
using ago with different amount of times. So
you can say three hours ago, which means something
happened three hours in the past. Two days ago,
which means it happened two days in the past.
Two weeks ago, which means two weeks in the past.
and so forth. You can use it for months, three
months ago, four months ago. You can also use
it for seasons, so you can say two summers ago,
which means not this last summer that just occurred,
but you can say two summers ago, you can say
two years ago, and even more, two decades ago.
For example, I could say it's been 10 years since
I took a class, which means the last time that
I took a class was 10 years ago. 10 years ago.
The last time that I was in Paris was two decades
ago, which means 20 years. Again, that ago really
helps and you can demarcate, you can clarify,
you can communicate how long it's been by just
putting ago after the period of time that you're
saying. for hours, for days, for months, for
seasons, for years, and for decades. Another
way to say this is to say this past. So this
past week, this past month, this past summer,
this past year. That means that it happened within
the immediate time frame of one. So this past
week means one week. This past month means one
month. This past summer means one summer ago.
This past year means within this last year. Again,
this is more specific. It means one and then
whatever time period you are putting with it.
This past hour, this past week, month, season,
year. Time period of one. this past decade, which
means one decade, which would be 10 years, this
past century, which would mean 100 years, this
past century. So again, it could be any time
period, anything from an hour to a century, even
a millennium, but it has to be just a time period
of one. One and then whatever you say, hour,
day, week, month, year, et cetera. You can also
say last instead of past. Last has a little bit
smaller amount of things you would put it with.
You would put it with a specific day of the week
or the word week, a specific month or the word
month, a specific season, a specific holiday
or a year. Last Wednesday, last week, last June,
last month, last summer, last Christmas, last
year. If you are going further than that, if
you were seeing a period of time that's longer
than a year, then really what you're going to
say is in the last decade, in the last century,
in the last 20 years. You wouldn't just say last
20 years. That is extremely odd. You would say
in the last 20 years. In that case, when you
use in the last, when you use that specific structure,
what you're referring to is something that occurred
that has continued to occurred until this day.
So, in the last 20 years, we've had a technological
revolution. That means something started 20 years
ago, technology -wise, that is continuing until
today. That is not talking about a specific event
that was a one -time event, like if you just
say the word last. Last week, I went to Rome.
That is a one time thing that is not continuing
until now that doesn't mean that I'm still in
Rome. But if I say in the last year I moved to
Rome, that means I am still in Rome and I'm still
continuing to live there because this is an event
that happened in the last year that continues
until today. That phrase just by itself, in the
last year I went to Rome, doesn't really make
sense by itself. You would want to have further
detail and it sounds like you need more of a
story if you use that structure. I know it's
like similar words but that structure does mean
something different. If you just say last one
time event, if you say in the last event that
is still continuing from the past to affect the
present today. Let's talk about time periods
and things that are coming up in the future.
Now there's a couple ways to describe things
that are going to happen in the future. One is
to say this. This means the next date that's
coming up or the next time period that's coming
up or even referring to the current time that
you are in. For example, if you're listening
to this podcast, this podcast, when it comes
out, it comes out on a Monday. Now, if I have
an event that's happening this Friday, that means
five days from now, this Friday. If I'm talking
about something that's happening in this month,
this month is currently March, that means I would
say this month, which is referring to the month
of March. Something that's happening in the future,
but happening still within the month of March.
If I'm saying something that's going to happen
in the month of April, I wouldn't say this month.
I could say this April, which means I'm referring
to the month that is coming after this month.
This April on this specific April that is in
the year of 2024. I could also say this summer,
which is the summer of 2024, or this year, which
means the year of 2024. All of those are ways
to talk about the specific day, week, month,
season, or year that I am currently in and that
something is going to happen in the future. So
I could say this Friday, I am going to go to
Rome. This summer, I'm going to go to Rome. This
November, I'm going to go to Rome. This year,
I'm going to go to Rome. Again, going to Rome
is in the future, and then this part is trying
to clarify, trying to communicate what exact
day, month, season, or year I'm going. I can
also say the word next. Now next means it's something
that's coming up. So if I'm talking about The
Friday that is five days from now, I wouldn't
say next Friday. I would say this Friday because
I'm in that current week and it's this time period
that I'm in. So I would say this Friday. If I'm
referring to something that's in the month of
March, I wouldn't say next. I would say this,
this month, because I'm in that current time.
However, if I'm trying to relate something that's
outside of the current time I'm in, but it's
coming up in the immediate future, I would say
next. Next Friday means not the Friday of this
week, but the following week. Next month means
not this month, but the following month, right?
Next year doesn't mean this year that I'm currently
in of 2024. It means 2025, the following year.
So next is way of saying the following time period.
If I am saying that next Friday, I'm going to
Rome, that means not this week, but the following
week on a Friday, I'm going to Rome. Next Friday.
If you want to be more general with your time
that's going to happen in the future and you
don't want to have a very specific time or date
but you just want to give a general knowledge
of when this is happening you can say in or within
and then say the next. So in the next five minutes
I'm going to stand up. That is a very short amount
of time but I'm not telling you the exact minute
that I'm standing up, I'm just saying it's going
to happen within the next five minutes. So within
or in can be for very short amount of times,
like five minutes, 10 minutes, or an hour. It
can also be for a very long amount of time, like
a year. So I can say within the next week, I'm
going to call my insurance company. I'm not telling
you what day. I'm not telling you what time,
but I'm giving you a general frame of reference
that this event will occur in the next week within
the next seven days. I can also say within the
next month or in the next month, I'm going to
go to Rome. Again, I'm not telling you the day.
I'm not telling you time. I'm just telling you
that within the next 30 days, that event will
occur. You can also say this with a year in the
next year. I'm going to go to Rome, which means
any time within that year that event could happen.
If you're trying to be a little bit more specific,
you can use the words from now. So let's say
I say I'm going to Rome in the next month. In
the next month, I'm going to go to Rome. That
means any time in the next four weeks. If I want
to tell you a specific week, I can say three
weeks from now, I'm going to Rome. that gives
you the specific week doesn't tell you the date
but a general idea of when it is if i have an
event that's coming up and i'm moving and let's
say that's happening in three weeks but specifically
it's happening on a thursday i can say three
thursdays from now i am moving that's telling
you the specific day of the week so if you have
an event that's occurring, not the next Friday,
not the following Friday, you can say from now
to explain the future. Three Fridays from now,
three Mondays from now, three weeks from now,
three months from now. That tells you when the
event is occurring and it's happening at the
end of the time period that you're saying. If
you say in, That means it could happen any time
within the time period that you're saying. So
in the next month means that it could happen
any time in those four weeks. But four weeks
from now means it's happening at the end of four
weeks. Slight difference, but a little bit more
specific and telling you the exact end date of
when that event is happening. I hope you learned
a little bit about how to discuss when an event
occurred or will occur, what words and phrases
to use if it occurred in the immediate past,
or if it happened a long time ago. Also, what
words and phrases to use if you have a specific
date of when an event will occur in the future,
or you just have a general idea, a general timeframe
of when it will happen. I know there's a lot
to English, there's a lot to learn, so hopefully
this episode helped you with your English skills
and is helping you on your journey to fluency.
A reminder to check out the description of this
podcast episode, you can find the vocabulary
list which includes a list of the words and phrases
that I used in this episode. That way you can
study them and start to use them in conversation
yourself. If this podcast is helping you, if
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