- Hello, this is Jack from tofluency.com.
Welcome to this lesson on how we can use present tenses
to talk about the past and also the future.
Now, that might sound quite confusing,
but here's a quick example.
I'm playing soccer tomorrow.
This is true, tomorrow I am playing soccer.
I'm using the present continuous to talk about the future,
but we can also use the present simple
to talk about the future,
and the present simple to talk about the past.
So if you want to learn more about that, stick around,
but first this video is sponsored by Italki.
Now, Italki is a platform
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Okay, so back to the present tenses
for the future and the past.
Now a lot of you already know
about how to use the present simple.
Things like in the morning, I wake up at eight o'clock.
I then catch the bus, I go to work, and et cetera.
We talk about it.
We use it to talk about our daily routine.
And we use the present perfect
to talk about what is happening right now.
For example, right now I am making this video for you.
I am making this video for you.
But again, we can use present tenses
to talk about the future and the past.
And when we use it to talk about the past,
it is very specific.
But the present continuous
to talk about the future is really common.
And by the end of this lesson,
you're going to have a clear understanding
on how to do this.
I'm gonna give you lots of examples.
I'm going to give you the ability to practice as well.
Now I've made a couple of videos on these tenses before
and I definitely recommend at the end of this lesson
checking out the one where I talk about will
versus be going to versus the present continuous.
And I also just want to say at this point,
it's important to know that you should always be thinking
about grammar rules.
And in fact, it's better if you try
and internalize these sentences.
So at the end of the lesson,
I'm gonna talk about how you can do that as well.
Okay, present continuous and present simple future actions.
We use the present continuous to talk about the future
when we have already arranged something.
So you can think about it
in terms of what you write in your diary.
What you write in your diary.
So you might have a diary for Saturday
which says "Seven o'clock, go to the gym.
"Three o'clock, play football.
"Nine o'clock, race, have a race.
"Be in a race."
So you're very active,
you're doing lots of sports and activities.
What you can say is this.
At seven o'clock, I'm going to the gym.
Then at two o'clock, I'm playing football.
And at nine o'clock, I'm running a race.
We're using the present continuous here
to talk about future actions,
things that you have arranged.
Sometimes with someone but not always.
Okay, so arrangement.
And think about it in terms of what you put in your diary.
So somebody might ask you "What are you doing tomorrow?"
Present continuous.
What are you doing tomorrow?
You can say "Oh, I don't know yet.
"Oh, actually, I'm meeting a friend in the morning
"but the afternoon is open.
"What do you want to do?"
So I'm meeting a friend in the morning,
this has been arranged.
You're meeting at a specific location
and also you're meeting at a specific time.
Now let's just compare that really quickly to going to,
because these two are often confused
and sometimes you can just use either one,
they're quite flexible.
You can say this.
"What are you doing tomorrow?"
"Oh, I'm going to do some housework tomorrow.
"In the morning, we're going to go for a walk."
Now there's a slight difference here
because I'm going to do some housework,
I'm going to go for a walk,
this hasn't really been arranged.
It's your intention to do it
but you haven't set a specific time to do it.
You're not meeting somebody to do this at a specific time.
I'm going to go for a walk in the morning.
It's your intention, it's your plan,
but there's no specific arrangement.
Compare that to "I'm meeting my friend
"at 10 o'clock downtown."
That has a specific arrangement,
so there is a slight difference there.
But sometimes you can use either
to more or less talk about the same thing.
Definitely check out that video
because it's gonna help you.
In fact, I'll leave a link up here now.
The present simple to talk about the future
is a lot more specific, okay?
So we use this in a more specific way.
This isn't an arrangement
but when something is on a timetable, okay.
So you might think it's similar to the present continuous
but there is a difference.
For example, I can say "The movie starts at seven o'clock,
"so let's get there at 6:30."
The movie starts at seven o'clock.
This is something that is on a timetable.
It's something that you cannot change.
You can't call the cinema
and say "Is it okay if you start the movie at 7:30
"instead of seven o'clock because I'm busy?"
You can't do that.
And that's a good way to think about when to use this.
And again, at the end of the lesson,
I'm going to give you a great method you can use
so that you can just use these naturally
without thinking about rules.
But some more examples are
"We leave tomorrow at seven o'clock."
Because we're taking a train.
The train leaves at seven o'clock tomorrow.
We leave at seven o'clock tomorrow.
We can also say we're leaving at seven o'clock tomorrow
but to be more specific,
you say "We leave at seven o'clock tomorrow.
"We fly at four o'clock.
"The English lesson starts at four.
"The cafe opens at seven tomorrow morning."
So that's how we use the present simple
to talk about future actions.
And it's good to know this, especially for comprehension.
You might not want to use it
for those specific examples and use something else instead,
but it's more accurate when you do.
Having said that, it's just good to know
so you can understand TV shows
and when people speak.
Okay, so that's how we use the present simple
and present continuous for future actions,
but we can also use it in the past or for the past.
And this is quite specific now
and I'm going to give you an example
of when I found, how much was it?
I think 100, maybe 250 pounds in a wallet when I was 10.
We all go to the beach and I am looking for crabs,
so I have this bucket and I have a spade
and I'm trying to find crabs.
And I see something in a pool of water at the beach.
So I go into the water
and I dig out what I think is a crab
and I put it into the bucket.
And it wasn't a crab, it was a wallet.
So I find this wallet and I look inside the wallet
and it has 250 pounds inside it.
As you probably noticed,
I used the present simple and the present continuous
to talk about a story that happened in the past.
And this is called the historical present.
It's when we talk about something or tell a story
that we want to make more alive,
we want to make it more vivid and engaging.
And we can do that by using the present simple.
Now it's not always used
when people talk about stories in the past,
but I'm going to leave you a really good example
of when somebody used this in a very popular TV show.
So there's a video I want you to watch.
It's about a minute long
and it's Chandler from "Friends" telling a story
using the present simple and present continuous.
And you'll notice a lot of the time
when people use this, it's when they want attention.
They want to tell a story that's funny
or different or interesting.
You don't use it just to say what happened yesterday.
Like if somebody says "How was your day yesterday?"
So I wake up in the morning at nine o'clock.
I then have breakfast
and then I smell my coffee and I drink my coffee.
You don't use it just to talk about everyday situations
and something that happened yesterday.
Instead, we use it to tell a story
and to make that story interesting and engaging.
And my advice to you is, again, don't force this.
Don't use this in everyday life.
Don't think that this is advanced English.
Instead, be aware that this happens
and then when you watch TV shows,
when you watch movies, and people start talking
in the present about a story in the past,
it won't confuse you as much.
Okay, so that is how to use the present tenses
to talk about the future and the past.
And just in summary, the present continuous
for the future is used a lot.
We use this every day, we use this every day.
We're going to a fantastic restaurant tonight.
I'm playing football tomorrow, et cetera.
We use this a lot for arrangements.
But the present simple for the future,
the cafe opens at seven o'clock tomorrow.
That one isn't as common but it's good to know.
And then the present simple
and present continuous to tell stories about the past.
Again, that's nowhere near as common
as those about talking about the future,
but it's good to know
for when you watch TV shows and movies.
Now if you want to be able
to internalize these types of tenses
and to also know when to use them at the right time,
then learn, find sentences used in context.
Context is so important.
Then copy the sentences into flashcard software,
and then go through these flashcards.
And that way, you're going to get the repetition you need
so that you can use these tenses freely
and without thinking about grammar rules.
Now to learn more about that method,
click the link in the description.
And it's also going to take you to a page
where you can get access to the To Fluency program
so that you can download over 1,000 flashcard sentences
with audio and also get access
to the fantastic pronunciation tutorial.
So click the link in the description
to learn more about that.
And if you're new here, then subscribe
and leave me a comment saying hi.
And I welcome you to the channel.
Now to practice as well,
leave me some examples of the present continuous
and present simple for future actions.
And if you want to, tell me a story
using the present simple and the present continuous.
So practice that one too.
Okay, thank you so much for watching.
If you found this lesson useful,
then please share it with your friends.
And I'll see you in the next lesson.
Bye-bye.
(upbeat music)