Learn English with Dan

Improve your English today at ANGLOPOD.COM. Hi everyone, I’m Dan and today we’re going to look at how we talk about the future in English. In fact, that last sentence includes one of our examples, GOING TO. So how do we really talk about the future in English?The first thing to note is that English does not really have a future tense. We have a present tense, a past tense, and a perfect tense, but we don’t really have a future tense.What I mean is we don’t change the verbs in English to express the future as many other languages do. So we have to add other words to a verb to express the future. The most common words we use are WiLL and GOING TO, but we also use the present continuous when we want to talk about the future.Firstly, we use GOING TO a lot when talking about the future. I’m GOING TO do this, I’m GOING TO do that. This sounds like you’re sure, you have decided, you have made a plan. For example, “I’m GOING TO spend my holiday in Mexico this year”. So we use GOING TO for a plan or intention.However, we use the present continuous to talk about the future when there is a definite arrangement, for example: “I AM FLYING to Mexico next week”. This is an arrangement because you have bought a ticket. This is not just GOING TO happen, but it IS HAPPENING, so we use the present continuous in this case to talk about a future arrangement.As you can see in this example, the present continuous doesn’t really express the future, but the words ‘next week’. They are very important so we know when this thing is happening. So that’s why we don’t really have a future tense in English!Finally, let’s look at an example with WILL. A lot of people think that WILL is the future in English, but really the modal verb WILL is used to mean many different things and so it is overused by students when talking about the future.A lot of students say I WILL do this or I WILL do that, but really this is wrong. It sounds a bit strange. That’s why we use it with other words like MAYBE or PROBABLY. So for example: “Maybe I WILL do this”, “I WILL probably do that”.We tend to use WILL just to make predictions about the future or when we’re not sure about the future. We also use it when we’re still thinking about the future.So, now you know how to talk about the future, I hope you are GOING TO go to ANGLOPOD.COM to practise your English. Good luck and see you soon!Learn more: https://www.anglopod.com

Improve your English today at ANGLOPOD.COM. Hi everyone, I’m Dan and today we’re going to look at the past perfect simple and continuous.We looked at the past perfect simple in the previous lesson compared with the past simple. But we can also use the past perfect in the continuous form as well. We saw that the past perfect is used to show that an event in the past happened before another event in the past. If we don’t use the past perfect to show that some past events happen at different times, it might be confusing.Here’s an example of a past simple statement. “I WAS tired”. OK, why was I tired? What happened before this past situation to make me feel tired? We could say: “I WAS tired because I HAD BEEN RUNNING”. So that’s past simple, WAS, and past perfect continuous, HAD BEEN RUNNING. The continuous form here is very useful for describing an action that maybe is not complete.Let’s add some more information to this situation. “I WAS tired because I HAD BEEN RUNNING. In fact, I HAD RUN ten kilometres”. HAD RUN is past perfect simple and this expresses completion. Those ten kilometres are finished, completed. So we make the past perfect continuous with the auxiliary verb HAVE in the past, so HAD, then BEEN, and the present participle of the main verb, in this example RUN, so RUNNING. HAD BEEN RUNNING.“I WAS tired because I HAD BEEN RUNNING. In fact, I HAD RUN ten kilometres”.Learn more about English tenses at ANGLOPOD.COM. Good luck and see you soon!Learn more: https://www.anglopod.com

Improve your English today at ANGLOPOD.COM. Hi everyone, I’m Dan and today we’re going to look at the difference between the past perfect and past simple tenses in English. Why do we need these two tenses? How do we use them? Let’s find out more…We saw in an earlier lesson that we use the past simple to talk about something that is finished in the past, normally with a time reference that shows us exactly when this finished event happened in the past.However, sometimes we need to talk about more than one event that happened in the past. If they happened at the same time, we can just use the past simple for both events. For example: “When I ARRIVED at the party, John LEFT”.Here, there are two verbs, both in the past simple, ARRIVED and LEFT. But using the past simple for both events sounds like they happened together, at the same time. Also, it sounds like they are connected. It sounds like John LEFT because I ARRIVED.So sometimes we need to express that two things happened in the past but at different times and maybe there is no connection. That’s why we need the past perfect. For example: “When I ARRIVED, John HAD LEFT”. ARRIVED is past simple, but HAD LEFT is past perfect. This means that John left first and then I arrived later, so there is probably no connection between these two events now.We also saw in an earlier lesson that we make the present perfect with the auxiliary verb HAVE and the past participle of the main verb. Making the past perfect is very similar. We use the past of the auxiliary verb HAVE, which of course is HAD, and then we add the past participle of the main verb. So in this example, HAD LEFT.Learn more about English tenses at ANGLOPOD.COM. Good luck and see you soon!Learn more: https://www.anglopod.com

Improve your English today at ANGLOPOD.COM. Hi everyone, I’m Dan and today we’re going to look at the difference between ALREADY, STILL and YET in English. These three words certainly cause lots of problems for most people learning English, but together we will understand it much better!Here’s an example with STILL. You could say: “I am STILL doing my homework”. STILL means that the situation is not finished, it is continuing. Note that STILL goes after the auxiliary verb BE but before the main verb in the present continuous, for example ‘am STILL doing’.But if you use STILL with the present perfect, then STILL goes before the auxiliary verb HAVE, like this: “I STILL haven’t done my homework”.YET has a very similar meaning to STILL, but we use it in negative sentences and questions to talk about something that is not finished.Here are two examples with YET. You could say: “I haven’t done my homework YET” or you could ask the question “Have you done your homework YET?”Here’s an example with ALREADY. You could say: “I have ALREADY done my homework”. ALREADY is used to talk about something that finished before now or before people expected.Have you been to ANGLOPOD.COM YET? If you’ve ALREADY been, that’s great! Keep going back to improve your English. If you STILL haven’t been, then what are you waiting for? See you soon!Learn more: https://www.anglopod.com

Improve your English today at ANGLOPOD.COM. Hi everyone, I’m Dan and today we’re going to look at the difference between SINCE and FOR in English. These two words are often confusing, but we’ll look at some examples to make it clear.Basically, we use SINCE and FOR with perfect tenses to show how long something has lasted from when it began to the time we’re talking about. For example, you could say: “I HAVE BEEN STUDYING English SINCE last year”. You could also say: “I HAVE BEEN STUDYING English FOR twelve months”.In the first example, SINCE last year, you are giving a point in time as a reference. This action, studying English, started then and has continued until now. The second example, FOR twelve months, is a period of time, in this case measured in months.So you can use SINCE with a date or a time, like seven o’clock, 2020, June, or Thursday, for example. But you use FOR with a period of time, measured in seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, years, etc.You can use SINCE and FOR with both present perfect simple and continuous. For example, “We HAVE KNOWN each other SINCE we were children” or “We HAVE BEEN LIVING together FOR six years”.One very common mistake is to use ‘during’ instead of FOR. Remember, we say FOR six months, FOR six days, FOR six hours, not ‘during’.How long HAVE you BEEN LEARNING English? Go to ANGLOPOD.COM and tell us in the comments using SINCE and FOR. See you soon!Learn more: https://www.anglopod.com

Improve your English today at ANGLOPOD.COM. Hi everyone, I’m Dan and today we’re going to learn about the present perfect simple and continuous. We’ll look at some examples to help us understand when to use them.In the last lesson, we looked at the difference between the present perfect and the past simple. We saw that the past simple is used to talk about a point in time, but the present perfect is used to talk about a period of time that starts in the past and goes up to the present. But what’s the difference between the present perfect simple and continuous?Here’s an example of the present perfect simple. You can say: “We HAVE BEEN married for years”. BE is a state, not an action, so we use it in the simple form. We got married in the past and we are still married now. The situation hasn’t changed, so “We HAVE BEEN married for years”.But if you use an action verb, you can use the present perfect continuous, like this: “We HAVE BEEN DATING for three months”. This also refers to a period of time that started in the past and goes up to the present, now.However, sometimes the choice between present perfect simple and continuous can refer to an action over a period of time or what you have completed so far. For example, you could say: “I HAVE BEEN STUDYING English for two years”. This refers to the repeated action of learning over a two-year period until now. But you could also use the present perfect simple to show what you have completed or achieved. “I HAVE STUDIED basic English”. Basic English is now finished and you will now go on to the next level.So, how long HAVE you BEEN studying English? What HAVE you STUDIED so far? Go to ANGLOPOD.COM and tell us in the comments. See you soon!Learn more: https://www.anglopod.com

Improve your English today at ANGLOPOD.COM. Hi everyone, I’m Dan and today we’re going to look at the difference between the present perfect tense and the past simple tense in English. When and how do we use them? Let’s look at some examples…Consider this example. I’m hungry. Why? Here are two reasons. “I DIDN’T EAT breakfast this morning”. This is past simple. It refers to an event and a time that is finished in the past. Breakfast time is finished and this morning is now finished. We can assume it is now past midday, so it’s the afternoon. Therefore, we use the past simple for events and times that are finished in the past.Now here is the second reason. “I HAVEN’T EATEN all day”. This reason is in the present perfect tense. You can see that the grammatical structure of the sentence is a bit different. To make the present perfect we use the auxiliary verb HAVE and the past participle of the main verb, in this case EATEN, from the verb EAT. EAT is the present, ATE is the past, EATEN is the past participle.So why do we use the present perfect and how is it different from the past simple? Whereas the past simple refers to a point in time that is finished, the present perfect refers to a period of time that starts in the past and goes right up to now, the present, when we are talking.In this case, “I HAVEN’T EATEN all day” refers to a period of time that starts at breakfast, at the beginning of the day, and goes up to now, the time we are referring to. I am hungry now, so we are talking about the whole period of time from breakfast until now. I didn’t eat anything during that time, which means I’m hungry now. “I’m hungry now because I HAVEN’T EATEN all day”.You can use the present perfect to talk about so many things, such as experiences you have had or things you have or haven’t completed. HAVE you BEEN to ANGLOPOD.COM yet? It’s a great way for you to practise your English! See you soon!Learn more: https://www.anglopod.com

Improve your English today at ANGLOPOD.COM. Hi everyone, I’m Dan and today we’re going to continue looking at English tenses. In particular, we’re going to learn how to use the past simple tense in questions and negative statements.Here’s an example. “I SPEAK English now, but I DIDN’T SPEAK English last year”. The first half of the sentence is present simple. This is true now. “I SPEAK English”. The second half of the sentence is past simple. “I DIDN’T SPEAK English last year.”Notice how we make the negative statement in the past. The main verb SPEAK doesn’t change! We don’t say “I didn’t spoke”. We say “I DIDN’T SPEAK”. That’s because the auxiliary verb DO expresses the past. DO becomes DID NOT or DIDN’T. So we don’t need to change the main verb.This can be verb confusing for many students, because this rule does not exist in many other languages, so it is a very common mistake to make when using English tenses. Just remember, when using the auxiliary verb DO to make the past simple, so DID or DIDN’T, don’t change the main verb as well. Leave it as a bare infinitive, in this example, SPEAK.The rule is the same when we make questions. In the present tense, we say “DO you SPEAK English?” but in the past tense we say “DID you SPEAK English?” not “DID you SPOKE?” Again, the auxiliary verb DO expresses the past tense, so we don’t change the tense of the main verb.DID you PRACTISE your English yesterday? DO you PRACTISE your English every day? You should! So go to ANGLOPOD.COM so you can! See you soon!Learn more: https://www.anglopod.com