Episode 17 - How to use future tenses

(Transcribed by TurboScribe.ai - Go Unlimited to remove this message) Hi, we are the 3 English Experts. I'm Rebecca. I'm Dave. I'm Birgit. And welcome to this episode. 3 English Experts is your English podcast to help you speak better English and create a positive and happy mindset for your English learning journey. So hi, everyone. Today, it's the future. We're going to talk about the future in English. And better to start our grammar queen, Birgit. Hello. Hello again. Yes, I know why Dave is saying that grammar. That's my part. Yes. Future chances. What I always try to find out when I work with a client and that's new, does he or she use the future tense in English? Because it is an important issue. And it is an important issue because in our language, our native German, we can use the present tense just so. Ich gehe morgen zum Fußballplatz oder ich gehe morgen schwimmen. There is no ich werde gehen. It's not necessarily. And I thought about that today before the recording because that's future one, I think, werde gehen. That's what it's called in German. When do I use it? And I hardly ever use it. So most of the times, I would say over 80 or 90 percent, I just use present tense. And then Rebecca agrees. Yes. So I was just going to ask the question. Exactly. When do I say ich werde gehen? It's a good question because that's what we learned, actually. And I think we learned that more than ich gehe morgen. We learned ich werde morgen gehen. But actually, nobody says that yet. I don't know. Maybe special scenarios. I'm not sure. Yeah, I was reflecting on it and I had a look at the German grammar because I was curious about it. And it said that this was about if it's really fixed. Well, we will talk about intention because that's what the English future is all about. If it's an intention, then you might say ich werde. But if it's fixed, you say ich gehe. I don't even think about that when I talk. And I hardly ever say werde. So I have to think about that a bit more for German. Sorry about my bad German grammar explanations. But let's have a look at the English. In English, I'm sure you shouldn't go without future tense if you want to express the future. So when learners come and they are on a lower level, I advise them to start with will. So whenever you want to express future, at least use will to put future into your sentence. Otherwise, you wouldn't transport that. But there's more than will. And yes, there are some choices. And this is what we are going to address today. For example, Rebecca has another one. Yeah, I think it's good advice that you could start with will. The problem is then people think that's the only thing they can use. They get obsessed with putting will on everything. Once you feel comfortable with that, obviously, there are other ways of talking about the future. And the one that most people, a lot of my clients seem to forget, or sometimes I wonder, did they ever learn this is the inform. So using present continuous to talk about the future. So tomorrow I am driving to Munich or this weekend I am visiting my family. I actually call this appointment future because for me, this is something I would put it in my diary. It's not just an idea in my head. It's really something I would write down. It's a fixed appointment. It's often got a time tomorrow, Friday night. On the 6th of January, we are flying to Mallorca or something. It's a timetable. For me, it sounds fixed. If I say I'm flying to Sheffield tomorrow, for example, which is true, but that means I've booked my ticket. It's a fixed plan. It's not just an idea that I'm going to fly home in September. Maybe it's really like I'm flying tomorrow, booked, fixed and staying until Sunday. Yes, Rebecca, I just want to jump in here because you wonder, have they ever learned this present continuous future? I can say this from what my children have been through in school. They do address it, but there's no assessment of whatsoever. When do you need it in comparison to world or other future times? And I think that's the trouble. I'm just sorry about my words, but they just throw it in when there's time. And here you are and people don't know what to do with it. And they're not aware of it. And it's got a very small issue part in the books. So that's what I realized. Yeah. And I think that's the problem. It's so common in English. I would always say, so what are you doing on Saturday? Oh, what are you doing this weekend? I wouldn't actually say, what are you going to do? There's nothing wrong with saying that. But naturally, I would often, when I'm forming a question about someone's plans, I would say, oh, what are you doing tonight or what are you doing next week? And of course, maybe you don't have a fixed plan, but I would often put that question in that form. And for me, if someone says, oh yeah, I'm staying at home, it can be a fixed plan to stay at home. I would still use the inform rather than I will stay at home. Just, yeah, I'm staying at home. Fixed plan. Yeah. I was just thinking, it's not an idea in your head that you think the person might have a fixed plan. It's just use of English. I don't know, really. It's just natural way of asking a question about plans. I would often, Dave, would you agree with that? You would ask in the inform? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. What are you doing at the weekend? It's more asking for what you've arranged, what you've fixed in your schedule. I always say, if it's in your schedule, it's the ING form because it's sort of a fixed thing. You've made an arrangement or appointment to do it. Whether you would say what you're going to do at the week or what are you going to do at the weekend? Okay. Yeah. But I think more naturally, I would go to what are you doing at the weekend. Yeah. That's exactly, I would always say, that's how I try to help people differentiate. If it's in my diary, it's in my schedule, then it's in. And if it's something like important, I wouldn't say, well, I'm washing my hair on Saturday. I wouldn't put that in my diary. Maybe, but I would just say, I'm going to wash my hair. So Dave, you're going to talk about going to, so when do we use going to? Yeah. I mean, you've mentioned the word plan and that's basically it. So if you say, I also work with a kind of percentage scale as well, if you want to look at it that way and maybe say that the ING, so the fixed thing that you just talked about, Rebecca, is let's say 100% because you've booked your flight, you're going, I mean, okay, there could be something that means you don't go, but everything goes to plan, you're flying. So that's taken care of. Maybe down to 80 or 70% probability, the fact that it might happen, then we use a going to. So it's still a plan. You could say, what are you going to do at the weekend as well, but more naturally, what are you doing at the weekend? But if you don't have something fixed, then you say, don't know really. And then you can maybe use the going to as a way to express a plan that you have. And again, something that's not in the schedule. So I don't know, I'm going to relax at the weekend, or I'm going to take the dog for a walk as usual, or I'm going to do this. So something that's not actually fixed. So there's the going to the plan, and this is where it gets a little bit confusing too, because there's another use of going to, which also is a bit confusing with the word will, because there are other uses. There are general will future differences as well, which we didn't cover earlier when Birgit was talking. There is the will, just the fact thing for the future, but there's also a will when you want to predict something. And this is where it gets a little bit confusing between a prediction and also then in the going to form, you have a prediction based on what you can see, feel or know. And this is very, very confusing, very, very difficult sometimes to see the differences between the two of them. But basically, maybe an easy way to remember the going to form is that, as I said, you have this impression, you see something, you've got the evidence exactly well said. And often in England, we had on the TV, this fantastic game show called All About Sports. And in there, they had a special game where they used to stop some sports footage. And then they used to say, what's going to happen next? And what's going to happen next? So then they're asking the people to predict what's going to happen next based on the situation. So what they're seeing right now, what's the evidence? Yeah. Yeah. My classic sentence that I give people for this prediction evidence is always like, oh, look, the sky is black. It's going to rain because you're not 100 % sure because you never know. But it looks pretty likely that it's going to rain rather than it will rain. I wouldn't say it will rain. I would say, oh, look, it looks really dark. It's going to rain. That's the sort of visual evidence. Yeah. So one thing they explained well in the books, because I still remember, like, you see the clouds, it's going to rain. You can see the vase. The girl is hitting something. So it's going to fall. Exactly. Yeah. Rather than vorhersager prediction, as they say, it will rain in the weather forecast. This is the vorhersager. They would say it will rain, they say. It depends, though. Sometimes they say it's going to rain tomorrow on the forecast. It depends how sure they are, maybe. But at the weekend, it will be cloudy, but it's going to be sunny on Sunday. They do also use going to. So again, it depends on evidence, maybe, because they have the evidence or they should because they're the weather. But then let me put this question to you now. This is a good opportunity. Does it sound wrong if people use it? Is it incorrect to use the one or the other? Or is it just like it's not feeling very natural? Because this is what I advise. Obviously, it's a hard thing to be able to use that when you're a beginner. It's like a toolbox, I say. The better you get, the more precise you can explain what you want to say. But does it sound wrong in your ears? Or is it okay to say, okay, as long as you use future tense, people and maybe English might not get it correct all the time. I think it's not wrong. But I think when you start reading between the lines, so if someone says I'm going to do and I'm doing, to me, there's a difference. I'm flying, I'm going to fly. I would say one is booked and one isn't. And of course, most native speakers, they wouldn't think about the grammar because it's just a natural thing. But they would maybe hear between the lines, all right, she's booked, she's flying, definitely happening. Yeah, yeah. Okay. Yes. So this is what I try to tell my learners. So there's a message being transported in whatever tense you use here. And as you mentioned, you're right, I didn't quite explain when we actually use will. I think the best explanation is when you think of, I think, I believe, I feel, I will. This is a very spontaneous thought that's coming. I think I will stop at the supermarket on my way back today after work. I believe I will meet Peter when I go out of my door because he will be waiting. I think that's a good explanation. Spontaneous, when you think, believe, and feel, you use will and Vorhersagen, prediction. Yeah. Yeah, that's right. Yeah. Okay. And also just to the general fact, isn't it? So I will turn 20 next year. Okay. You wish, Dave. And signal words, because for example, be is a good one, but be you can often use with will. So I will be 21 next week or I will be back in the office on Monday or something like that. I always also have these keywords, signal words for will. Yeah, absolutely. We have the issue of the people that don't always hear the apostrophe L. Yeah. I'll be back. So I'll be back. That's always a good one, Arnie. Arnold. I'll be back. Arnold Schwarzenegger. Yes. And I think we need to talk about the last, well, there's not the last future tense, but we're not going to talk about absolutely all of them today, but we need to talk about timetables. And unfortunately, now you spoke about schedule. If it's in my diary in the schedule, this is confusing now because when it comes to the timetable and I tell people like far plan, the bus, when does the bus leave tonight? When does cinema start? This is something which is in a timetable and repeats. So it generally every day starts and leaves. But you may get confused when it's in my diary about meetings, you see, with the continuous. But I would always say it's a schedule that I can't influence. Okay, very good. My yoga class starts at seven o'clock with or without me. They're not going to wait for me. My flight leaves at quarter past 10 with or without me. I'm flying to Manchester tomorrow. That's my choice. That's my fixed plan. I booked my ticket. But the flight leaves at quarter past 10. I can't influence it. I can't ring them up and say, Lufthansa, I'm late. Fantastic, Rebecca. You've always got so good explanations. Wonderful. I'm sure it doesn't always work. There's always an exception, but that's a timetable that I cannot influence. Yeah. When does the film start? In Germany, quarter past eight, because everything starts at quarter past eight. I don't know why. Why is that big? And why does everything start at zwanzige Uhr von zehn in Deutschland? Well, after the news. Well, that's after the news. After the news, absolutely. Don't you watch the news at eight o 'clock? Yeah, but why quarter past eight? I don't know. Everything starts at quarter past eight. It's weird. It's a weird thing. All films, all TV series, quarter past eight. There's also those words, right, guys? After the words, you only use the present simple, even though, in theory, it should be the future. Like, what can we say? After the if, for example. Right? Or after as soon as, or after when. When I arrive. I will call you when I arrive. Yeah. So, the idea is, in the future, when I will arrive, but you never say the will arrive. So, I will call you when I arrive, and these things. So, there's as soon as, there's when, there's if. I'm sure there are one or two others that we've mentioned. Until, I think there's another one. Yeah. This is the thing. Future is, it is tricky. It is. It is. There's a lot of different, and, you know, Big always said that we're not going to talk about everything today. So, anybody who's listening, thinking, they didn't talk about future continuous next episode, or a future episode about future. And just going back to Big, it's Big Five, keeping things simple. Don't worry about future perfect continuous until you can do the basic three or four that we've talked about today. And even that's challenging enough for most people, I would say. There's not many clients I meet who can do future tens perfectly, where I don't find any mistakes. There's always, so I think it is quite challenging. And the other thing is nice to have, but they're not essential. Yeah. Particularly coming back to the fact that we as German native speakers don't have to think about it at all. We just use the present tense and we don't even know why when we should say Werde machen. So, do you use Werde machen sometimes? Werde machen. Ich werde da sein. I will be there. I will be there. Das werde ich machen. Mach ich. Nee, mach ich. I don't know. I wouldn't say das werde ich machen. Ich mach das. I don't know. Ich mach das. Just do it. Yes. Just do it. Very confusing. Yes, it is. Yes. It's not easy. Yeah. So, if you were listening carefully, you may know that Rebecca is off to her hometown, Sheffield, tomorrow. And Birgit and I just thought we'd whiz her a little bit. So, let's start. What time does your flight leave tomorrow? My flight leaves at 9.45, with or without me. Hopefully with me. That's a great song. That's a great song, with or without you. I love that song from you two. Anyway, Birgit? How are you getting to the airport? I am taking the bus because I live about 10 minutes from Frankfurt airport. So, I am taking, fixed plan, I am taking the bus. Good. Very good. How long does the flight take to Manchester? It takes 90 minutes, approximately. And who are you going to see in Sheffield? I am going to meet family, my parents, my brother, some aunties and uncles. Are you meeting in one group, or are you going to them separately? Is it like a family get-together? We are having, fixed plan, a family get -together on Friday. And we are meeting for dinner, I think, on Friday. That's in the schedule. My mum's planned it also. She knows the schedule. Very good. Very good. And is it somebody's birthday? Is it somebody's birthday? No, I don't think so. Was that not a future question? Because I was thinking you're meeting as a family. Is it going to be somebody's birthday, maybe? No, it's not going to be somebody's birthday. It's just a huge event, because I'm coming home. Yay! Cool. Very good. I don't go home very often. So, it is like a big thing. So, are you going home with your hubby, or are you going home alone? No, I'm going home alone. Hubby is staying here with the dog. He is dog-sitting. Very good. And he's going to enjoy the fantastic weather, because I think the forecast, it's going to be 25 degrees. And in Sheffield, it's going to be 12. Yes. Mum told me, bring the big coat. So, yes. Ah, spring in Sheffield. He's going to enjoy the sunshine on the balcony here, and I'm going to enjoy the Sheffield weather. So, how long are you staying for in sunny Sheffield? I am staying only until Sunday. So, I'm flying back on Sunday evening. And maybe the most important question, what are you going to eat? Absolutely. I have a plan. So, go for it. Most important thing is I'm going to eat pucker pie, and mushy peas, and chips. And gravy. And gravy. I don't know. Yes, a little bit on the pie. Yeah, a little bit. A little bit on the pie. Henderson's Relish, Sheffield. So, I'm going to eat, Birgit, do you know pucker pies? Have you ever heard of pucker pies? I don't think I have. Can you explain what that is? You haven't lived, Birgit. You haven't lived. Are they from Sheffield? I don't even know if it's a Sheffield thing. Pucker pies are a brand of pie, but you can get them in every single fish and chip shop. I will have a chicken one, I think. Yeah, chicken and mushroom pucker pie, served with mushy peas. Very important. I love mushy peas. And then chip shop style chips, which are different to the German Pommers. They're not quite the same. I'm sure you know that. And then potentially gravy. Or there's this very famous thing called Henderson's Relish, which is from Sheffield, which is a bit like Worcester sauce, bit like Maggi. Bit like Maggi. Bit like Maggi. Are you bringing any back to your house? Normally I would, but I'm flying only hand luggage, so I don't actually have ten shorts for shopping, unfortunately. I'm not bringing any back. Rebecca, curries are very important in British society. Are you going to have a curry? Good question. See, my parents are not really into curry, so I don't know. Maybe with my brother, we are hoping. Twist his arm. Twist his arm. Yeah, hopefully I'm going to have a curry as well. I will do my best to eat as much as possible. And last question from my side, what is your mother going to cook? Do you know? I think she's booked out every night. Okay, no time for cooking. I'm not actually sure, but I don't think we're going to eat at home. I think we're going to eat out. And why not? The very last question for me, Rebecca, is also a very important one. What is your tipple? We say in English tipple, meaning drink. So what are you going to drink in the pubs? Cider, beer, whatever. Actually, I used to be a cider drinker, but then I found out a few years ago, I have an apple allergy, which kind of killed that. I know, it's terrible. So I had to stop drinking that, which was awful. My tipple... And you live in Frankfurt as well. I know, apple wine. I know it's a nightmare. It's a nightmare. My tipple will be what it always is. I'm going to drink... What's that? My tipple will always be is I'm going to drink white wine. White wine. White wine. Normal, terrible quality of white wine in English pubs. What wines have you got? We've got white and we've got red. Two types. Three types if you're lucky. Thank you very much. Well, you're lucky you've got white wine. They could just have the red one or nothing. Or nothing. Yes. Okay. So I hope you will enjoy your journey. I will do my very best. Come back safely. Thank you, Birgit. Say hello to my hometown as well, please, Rebecca. Yes, I will do. Very good. Have a good time. See you. Thank you. See you. Bye-bye. Bye-bye. So that was our episode about future tense. Next time, we're going to talk about false friends. So a false friend is a word that maybe sounds a little bit the same as a word in your own language, but actually has a different meaning. So these can be quite tricky. So that's going to be our topic next time. Hope you'll join us again. Thank you so much for pressing play today. If you have any comments, questions, or perhaps suggestions for future episodes, feel free to contact us at our website 3englishexperts.com. Have a great day and see you next time.