WEBVTT

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Welcome back to the Learn English podcast, the

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podcast teaching English in context so you can

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learn naturally. On today's episode, I want to

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discuss time and communicating when an event

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took place or will take place in time. If this

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is your first time watching or listening to an

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episode, if this is your first time here, welcome.

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You might not know that I am an English teacher.

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I teach English online to students who are learning

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it as a second language. And one of the points

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of confusion that I get from my students is that

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they're confused about how to tell when a event

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occurred or will occur. They have difficulty

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explaining if something happened in the past,

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when it happened in the past, or if it's happening

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in the future, how soon in the future it's going

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to occur. There's a little bit of confusion of

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how to word this, what phrases to say, and how

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to communicate when an event took place or will

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take place. Because of that, on today's episode,

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I want to go over what a native speaker, what

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an American English speaker would say if they're

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trying to describe when an event took place.

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If this sounds like you, if you are a little

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bit confused about how to describe when an event

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occurred or will occur, don't worry. We're going

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to go over everything you need to know so you

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can communicate effectively with a native speaker.

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With that, let's begin. Before we start, I just

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want to remind you that in the episode podcast

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description, you will find a list of vocabulary

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words and phrases that I use in this episode

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so you can incorporate them into your vocabulary

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learning system and start using them in conversation

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yourself. You can find these vocabulary lists

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in this episode and in previous episodes so you

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can help expand your knowledge of English. Let's

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talk about how to describe when something occurs

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in time, events that have occurred in the past.

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Of course, if something happened the day before

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today, we would say yesterday. This happened

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yesterday. If it's been more than one day, though,

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there's different ways you can say it. Let's

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say something happened two days ago. So you would

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just say that this happened two days ago, three

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days ago. four days ago. You can use that days

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ago to describe how many days it's been since

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the certain event happened. You can also keep

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using ago with different amount of times. So

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you can say three hours ago, which means something

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happened three hours in the past. Two days ago,

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which means it happened two days in the past.

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Two weeks ago, which means two weeks in the past.

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and so forth. You can use it for months, three

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months ago, four months ago. You can also use

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it for seasons, so you can say two summers ago,

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which means not this last summer that just occurred,

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but you can say two summers ago, you can say

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two years ago, and even more, two decades ago.

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For example, I could say it's been 10 years since

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I took a class, which means the last time that

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I took a class was 10 years ago. 10 years ago.

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The last time that I was in Paris was two decades

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ago, which means 20 years. Again, that ago really

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helps and you can demarcate, you can clarify,

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you can communicate how long it's been by just

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putting ago after the period of time that you're

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saying. for hours, for days, for months, for

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seasons, for years, and for decades. Another

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way to say this is to say this past. So this

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past week, this past month, this past summer,

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this past year. That means that it happened within

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the immediate time frame of one. So this past

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week means one week. This past month means one

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month. This past summer means one summer ago.

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This past year means within this last year. Again,

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this is more specific. It means one and then

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whatever time period you are putting with it.

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This past hour, this past week, month, season,

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year. Time period of one. this past decade, which

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means one decade, which would be 10 years, this

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past century, which would mean 100 years, this

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past century. So again, it could be any time

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period, anything from an hour to a century, even

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a millennium, but it has to be just a time period

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of one. One and then whatever you say, hour,

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day, week, month, year, et cetera. You can also

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say last instead of past. Last has a little bit

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smaller amount of things you would put it with.

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You would put it with a specific day of the week

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or the word week, a specific month or the word

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month, a specific season, a specific holiday

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or a year. Last Wednesday, last week, last June,

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last month, last summer, last Christmas, last

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year. If you are going further than that, if

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you were seeing a period of time that's longer

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than a year, then really what you're going to

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say is in the last decade, in the last century,

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in the last 20 years. You wouldn't just say last

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20 years. That is extremely odd. You would say

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in the last 20 years. In that case, when you

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use in the last, when you use that specific structure,

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what you're referring to is something that occurred

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that has continued to occurred until this day.

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So, in the last 20 years, we've had a technological

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revolution. That means something started 20 years

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ago, technology -wise, that is continuing until

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today. That is not talking about a specific event

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that was a one -time event, like if you just

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say the word last. Last week, I went to Rome.

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That is a one time thing that is not continuing

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until now that doesn't mean that I'm still in

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Rome. But if I say in the last year I moved to

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Rome, that means I am still in Rome and I'm still

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continuing to live there because this is an event

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that happened in the last year that continues

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until today. That phrase just by itself, in the

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last year I went to Rome, doesn't really make

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sense by itself. You would want to have further

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detail and it sounds like you need more of a

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story if you use that structure. I know it's

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like similar words but that structure does mean

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something different. If you just say last one

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time event, if you say in the last event that

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is still continuing from the past to affect the

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present today. Let's talk about time periods

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and things that are coming up in the future.

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Now there's a couple ways to describe things

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that are going to happen in the future. One is

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to say this. This means the next date that's

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coming up or the next time period that's coming

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up or even referring to the current time that

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you are in. For example, if you're listening

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to this podcast, this podcast, when it comes

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out, it comes out on a Monday. Now, if I have

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an event that's happening this Friday, that means

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five days from now, this Friday. If I'm talking

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about something that's happening in this month,

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this month is currently March, that means I would

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say this month, which is referring to the month

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of March. Something that's happening in the future,

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but happening still within the month of March.

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If I'm saying something that's going to happen

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in the month of April, I wouldn't say this month.

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I could say this April, which means I'm referring

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to the month that is coming after this month.

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This April on this specific April that is in

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the year of 2024. I could also say this summer,

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which is the summer of 2024, or this year, which

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means the year of 2024. All of those are ways

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to talk about the specific day, week, month,

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season, or year that I am currently in and that

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something is going to happen in the future. So

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I could say this Friday, I am going to go to

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Rome. This summer, I'm going to go to Rome. This

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November, I'm going to go to Rome. This year,

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I'm going to go to Rome. Again, going to Rome

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is in the future, and then this part is trying

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to clarify, trying to communicate what exact

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day, month, season, or year I'm going. I can

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also say the word next. Now next means it's something

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that's coming up. So if I'm talking about The

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Friday that is five days from now, I wouldn't

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say next Friday. I would say this Friday because

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I'm in that current week and it's this time period

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that I'm in. So I would say this Friday. If I'm

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referring to something that's in the month of

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March, I wouldn't say next. I would say this,

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this month, because I'm in that current time.

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However, if I'm trying to relate something that's

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outside of the current time I'm in, but it's

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coming up in the immediate future, I would say

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next. Next Friday means not the Friday of this

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week, but the following week. Next month means

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not this month, but the following month, right?

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Next year doesn't mean this year that I'm currently

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in of 2024. It means 2025, the following year.

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So next is way of saying the following time period.

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If I am saying that next Friday, I'm going to

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Rome, that means not this week, but the following

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week on a Friday, I'm going to Rome. Next Friday.

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If you want to be more general with your time

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that's going to happen in the future and you

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don't want to have a very specific time or date

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but you just want to give a general knowledge

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of when this is happening you can say in or within

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and then say the next. So in the next five minutes

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I'm going to stand up. That is a very short amount

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of time but I'm not telling you the exact minute

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that I'm standing up, I'm just saying it's going

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to happen within the next five minutes. So within

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or in can be for very short amount of times,

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like five minutes, 10 minutes, or an hour. It

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can also be for a very long amount of time, like

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a year. So I can say within the next week, I'm

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going to call my insurance company. I'm not telling

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you what day. I'm not telling you what time,

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but I'm giving you a general frame of reference

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that this event will occur in the next week within

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the next seven days. I can also say within the

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next month or in the next month, I'm going to

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go to Rome. Again, I'm not telling you the day.

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I'm not telling you time. I'm just telling you

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that within the next 30 days, that event will

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occur. You can also say this with a year in the

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next year. I'm going to go to Rome, which means

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any time within that year that event could happen.

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If you're trying to be a little bit more specific,

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you can use the words from now. So let's say

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I say I'm going to Rome in the next month. In

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the next month, I'm going to go to Rome. That

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means any time in the next four weeks. If I want

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to tell you a specific week, I can say three

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weeks from now, I'm going to Rome. that gives

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you the specific week doesn't tell you the date

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but a general idea of when it is if i have an

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event that's coming up and i'm moving and let's

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say that's happening in three weeks but specifically

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it's happening on a thursday i can say three

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thursdays from now i am moving that's telling

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you the specific day of the week so if you have

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an event that's occurring, not the next Friday,

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not the following Friday, you can say from now

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to explain the future. Three Fridays from now,

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three Mondays from now, three weeks from now,

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three months from now. That tells you when the

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event is occurring and it's happening at the

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end of the time period that you're saying. If

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you say in, That means it could happen any time

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within the time period that you're saying. So

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in the next month means that it could happen

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any time in those four weeks. But four weeks

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from now means it's happening at the end of four

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weeks. Slight difference, but a little bit more

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specific and telling you the exact end date of

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when that event is happening. I hope you learned

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a little bit about how to discuss when an event

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occurred or will occur, what words and phrases

00:13:09.590 --> 00:13:12.049
to use if it occurred in the immediate past,

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or if it happened a long time ago. Also, what

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words and phrases to use if you have a specific

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date of when an event will occur in the future,

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or you just have a general idea, a general timeframe

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of when it will happen. I know there's a lot

00:13:27.549 --> 00:13:30.490
to English, there's a lot to learn, so hopefully

00:13:30.490 --> 00:13:33.309
this episode helped you with your English skills

00:13:33.309 --> 00:13:36.210
and is helping you on your journey to fluency.

00:13:36.710 --> 00:13:39.350
A reminder to check out the description of this

00:13:39.350 --> 00:13:42.809
podcast episode, you can find the vocabulary

00:13:42.809 --> 00:13:46.190
list which includes a list of the words and phrases

00:13:46.190 --> 00:13:49.529
that I used in this episode. That way you can

00:13:49.529 --> 00:13:52.110
study them and start to use them in conversation

00:13:52.110 --> 00:13:55.789
yourself. If this podcast is helping you, if

00:13:55.789 --> 00:13:58.750
it's helping you on your journey to fluency in

00:13:58.750 --> 00:14:01.289
English and you're enjoying the podcast overall,

00:14:01.769 --> 00:14:04.230
please consider leaving a rating on whatever

00:14:04.230 --> 00:14:07.330
app you are using to listen to this podcast on.

00:14:07.769 --> 00:14:09.970
You can also tell a friend or family member,

00:14:10.129 --> 00:14:12.710
tell someone who is learning English about this

00:14:12.710 --> 00:14:15.129
podcast and how it's helping you with your English

00:14:15.129 --> 00:14:18.149
skills. That way we can grow our audience and

00:14:18.149 --> 00:14:20.090
reach more people and I would really appreciate

00:14:20.090 --> 00:14:24.279
your support. You can follow us on social media

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at learn English pod the website that has all

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of our episodes is learn English pod calm and

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Like and subscribe so you don't miss our next

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episode when it comes out next week until then

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keep learning English