Hi everybody.
My name's Connie, and this is New York in Slow English.
Before we begin, you know what I'm gonna ask you.
Please click on the subscribe button right there.
It's super important for me to get as many subscribers as possible on YouTube so that
people can find me.
Thank you very much!
So, today I want to talk about the future.
Now, in English, we have a few ways that we talk about the future.
And one of them is "be going to".
When we select these words to talk about the future, it's because we have a plan.
We have some sort of intention.
I had to do some errands today, and while I was out I stopped a few people and asked
them about their plans for the day.
Let's begin with this guy I met on Fifth Avenue.
Where are you going?
I going to this construction site.
Here he is using the present continuous tense.
I am going.
And notice, after the "going", it's "to" plus a noun.
When we use this construction, the present continuous, it generally means something is
happening right now.
Right this second.
Even as he is talking to me.
So, in this case the use of "going to" is really the present continous.
And it's talking about something that is happening right now.
What are you gonna do there?
I'm going to deliver a package.
I'm similar to the mailman.
What I do is I take packages from one person and I deliver to the other.
Direct rush.
Oh.
Do you ride a bicycle?
Yes, I do.
In this construction, he uses "be going to" plus a verb.
Whenever we do this, this is very clearly talking about the future.
What do you do?
I'm a yoga teacher.
Where are you going after your class?
I am going home.
I live in Brooklyn.
Yay Brooklyn!
You will find that in English we use the present continuous, which typically means right now,
right this second, right as I'm talking to you; but, sometimes we use it for the future,
too.
In this case, she is saying, "I am going to a destination".
Right?
So, she's actually talking about the future, because she's clearly not in the process of
going home.
She's still sitting inside this yoga studio.
So, she's talking about the future, but using the present continuous tense.
Whenever we do this kind of construction, it's "be going to" plus a noun.
Now, notice when we talk about home, we never say "to home".
We drop the "to".
It's always, "I'm going home".
What are you gonna do today?
Well, this is my last class.
It's your last class?
It's 7:30 in the morning!
I have a short day.
So, I'm going to go home.
And then I'm going to walk my dog.
And then I am going to go to a meeting later this afternoon.
This is so interesting what she does in this case.
She says, "I'm going to go home."
Alright.
So, this says to me that she knows she's not going home right now.
She is clearly talking about the future here.
So, she uses this construction of "going to go".
She wants to make it very clear to me that she is talking about the future.
Here are 2 more very clear examples where she uses "going to" plus a verb to talk about
the future.
Where are you going after this?
I'm going back to school.
And what are you gonna do there?
I'm going to teach an art class.
Oh really?
Like what are you gonna teach this afternoon?
Today we're working on individual paintings for the students' art show.
I met this lovely teacher on my lunch break.
And we got to talking a little bit.
And she told me that she was going back to school.
This is a very interesting choice.
It's a phrasal verb, "to go back", and it means something different from "go".
It means that you're going to a place where you were before.
This next video clip has some more phrasal verbs that I want to point out to you.
And if you're interested in seeing some more phrasal verbs, and who isn't?, because English
is full of them, click on the link up here somewhere to see a video about phrasal verbs
we use in the kitchen.
What do you do?
Well, my title is I'm a producer at a radio station.
But what that means is I basically research information.
I come up with ideas for segments, either in the news or in culture, and then if those
are green lighted, I research them.
And I write for the person who's on air an introduction and a series of different questions.
"Come up with" is a phrasal verb that is really talking about creativity.
It's talking about thinking of ideas.
Thinking of new ideas for her radio show.
"Green lighted" means that something is approved.
So, if you think about a traffic light, you have red, yellow, and green lights.
Red means stop, but green means go.
So, when you're green lighted with an idea at work, it means that it has been approved.
Where are you going now?
I'm going out to coffee.
"Go out" is a phrasal verb that means so many different things it could make you crazy.
But in this case "go out" to do something socially.
Another meaning of "go out" is to go on a date with somebody.
It can also mean that you are in love with somebody.
That you are somebody's girlfriend or boyfriend.
It can also mean that something is no longer working.
Like a light, when a light goes out.
It means that the light bulb is no longer any good.
It could mean that something is no long stylish.
Like a pair of pants or a blouse might go out of style.
Ok.
But let's get back to the video.
"I'm going out to coffee".
This sounds strange, doesn't it?
But we say it all the time now.
It means that you're going to go and drink some coffee with a friend.
But instead of saying, "I'm going out to have a cup of coffee", we just shorten it to "I'm
going out to coffee".
As if it were a destination.
Where are you going now?
I"m going out to coffee.
I'm going to a coffee shop with my good friend, whom I haven't seen for awhile.
And we're going to sit down and drink some good coffee and chat.
In this next video I think this young woman has such a beautiful voice.
It's very soft and melodic.
And her accent is very beautiful to me.
Um, I'm a cinematographer, and editor, and a film teacher.
So, a lot of things.
I work at Vice News Tonight, and I also work at YogaWorks, and then I teach middle schoolers
film.
It's really fun.
Well, they have like the craziest ideas.
But, it's actually really enjoyable 'cause their minds are more willing to go in different
directions than people who are older.
Often times people get kind of stuck in their ways.
They're stuck in how things should be.
And kids don't have those ideas yet.
So, they'll just kind of . . . they'll talk about anything.
They'll go with any idea.
So, I have a lot of fun with them.
OK, now listen as she very clearly uses "going to" plus a verb to tell us what her plans
are with her class.
Well, we're going a lot of different things.
We're going to do a documentary project about things in the community.
So, I'm gonna have them kind of choose whatever they want to do.
And then we're going to meet different people in the community, and interview them, just
get them used to the whole process of making non-fiction, non-narrative films.
OK, by the end of our talk she was maybe a little bit more comfortable, and started using
some quite informal English.
Where are you going?
I'm probably gonna go home, eat something, and go to sleep.
She's says, "I'm probably gonna go home".
Here she has fallen into some very informal English.
You will hear "gonna" all the time.
We use "gonna" when we use "going to" plus a verb.
In this last video clip there's one more opportunity for you to hear how we say "gonna".
I'm gonna go to a family party.
And what are you gonna do there?
At that family party I am gonna talk and, you know, have fun with my family.
So, let's quickly review what we have learned here.
Sometimes we talk about the future and we use the present continuous tense.
We will say "be going to" plus a noun.
We might be talking about the continuous tense, meaning right now, this is happening right
now.
But sometimes when we use "going to" in the continuous tense, we're actually talking about
the future.
Now, if we use "be going to" plus a verb, we are definitely talking about a future plan
or intention.
This form often gets informally contracted from "going to" to "gonna".
I hope this lesson has been helpful and fun for you.
And, I'll see you next time on New York in Slow English.