How to use "BE SUPPOSED TO" *properly* in English! - Formation, Pronunciation and Usage!

Hello, lovely students, and welcome back to English with Lucy.

Today, I'm going to teach you how to use this phrase

'be supposed to'.

This is a phrase that confuses so many of my students.

Let's end it today! First, I want you to

answer a question. Is there a difference in

meaning between these two sentences?

'I have to be at work by 9 am.' 'I'm supposed to be

at work by 9 am.' And what about these two?

'I should stop drinking coffee in the evening.'

'I'm supposed to stop drinking coffee in the evening.'

Let's find out! To help you even further,

I have created a free PDF, an exercise pack to go with this lesson.

The PDF contains all of the information in this lesson,

plus lots more examples to help you understand

exactly how and when to use 'be supposed to'.

I've also included a link to some interactive activities

to help you practice even more. If you would like to get this

for free, all you have to do is click on the link in the

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Okay, let's begin the lesson! We're going to start with the

form of 'be supposed to'. The basic structure is:

subject plus 'be supposed to' plus base verb. You should conjugate

'be' to match the subject

and the tense— 'I am supposed to,' 'You were

supposed to,' 'She is supposed to,' and so on. Remember that

in speech, we usually contract the subject and the form of 'be',

so it becomes—'I'm supposed to', 'She's supposed to'.

Let's talk about pronunciation! Listen to how I say 'supposed to'

in this sentence—'I am supposed to be at work by 9 am.'

Firstly, I don't pronounce the final 'd' of 'supposed'.

Most speakers don't say 'supposeD to'.

Instead, they elide or remove the final 'd' of

the first word, which makes it easier to join to the next word

smoothly: 'suppose to', 'suppose to'.

You will also hear people saying /səˈpəʊs tə/, 'supposed to'.

In fact, I say that in fast speech. It was the way I was brought up.

'I'm supposed to do this.' 'I'm supposed to do this.'

You might also hear /spəʊz/: 'spose' rather than 'suppose,'

without pronouncing the first vowel /əˈ/, and this reduces the

number of syllables in the word from 2 to 1. 'Su-ppose,' 2 syllables.

'Spose,' 1 syllable. /spəʊz tə/ or /spəʊs tə/.

This is very, very common in fast informal speech.

Okay, let's talk about use. Now, there are a few ways

we use 'be supposed to'.

One is to talk about a duty, obligation, or arrangement.

In this sense, it's similar to 'have to', but it's not exactly the same.

Let's go back to the examples from the beginning of the

video—'I have to be at work by 9 am.'

'I'm supposed to be at work by 9 am.' What is the difference

in meaning? Pause the video to think if you like,

but the difference is that 'have to' or 'have to' is a strong obligation.

'Be supposed to' is an 

expectation—you're expected to do something, though you might not.

Let's expand those sentences a bit.

'I have to be at work by 9 am because we have a team meeting

every morning.' 'I'm supposed to be at work

by 9 am, but because of traffic, I'm often late.'

Here are some more

examples—'I'm supposed to buy a cake for my husband's birthday,'

'We're supposed to submit our proposal by Friday,'

'Our children are supposed to be washing up, but we can

hear them having a water fight.'

Notice that I used 'be' plus -ing verb here to indicate that something is

happening now. 'The parcel is supposed to be delivered by Friday.'

Note that this is a passive structure:

'be supposed to be' plus past participle.

Similarly, we use 'was' or 'were supposed to' when we expected

something to happen, or we were expected to do something but didn't.

For example—'You were supposed to be here hours ago.'  

(But you weren't - you were very late.)

Or—'I was supposed to buy a cake for my husband's birthday.' (But I forgot.)

So, in the present, 'be supposed to' is an expectation, which may

or may not be fulfilled.

However, when we use it in the past, it's almost always

because it didn't happen.

However, we can also use 'be supposed to' when we don't

know if something happened or not.

For example—'Did Sam post the letters this morning? He was supposed to, but

I haven't seen him yet.' Now, what if we make it

negative 'be not supposed to.' This can mean—'not allowed'.

However, 'be not supposed to' is less strong, and there is a feeling

that people might do the action anyway. Here are some examples that

should make this clear for you—'Students

are not supposed to use their phones during class,'

'I wasn't supposed to eat sweets before dinner when I was a child,'

'Can we touch the sculptures? No, you're not supposed to.'

Okay, now listen to these sentences. Can you hear any difference in how

I pronounce 'to'?

'You're not supposed to touch the sculptures.' 'You're not supposed to.'

In the first sentence, I said 'to' very quickly with a schwa sound—not /tu:/ but /tə/.

Most people will pronounce it /tə/ if a word comes after it. 'You're

not supposed to touch.'

But, in general, we pronounce it /tu:/

if there's no word after it. 'You're not supposed to.' You'll be understood,

but it will sound a little bit unnatural. If you end a sentence with /tə/—'You're

not supposed to.' Yeah. Supposed /tu:/—just sounds more

natural there.

Now, let's look at these 'supposed to' vs 'should'.

Here are the sentences from the beginning of the video—'I should

stop drinking coffee in the evening,' 'I'm supposed to stop

drinking coffee in the evening.'

What's the difference in meaning? Pause if you need to think.

Well, the first one is something I think is true or a good idea.

I can't sleep at night, so I think I should stop drinking coffee in the evening.

The second one with 'be supposed to'

is something someone else thinks is true, or a good idea for me to do.

Perhaps my doctor, but it's definitely not me, as I love drinking coffee

as late as possible.

We're implying that someone else has told us to do it. Here's

another—'My trainer said I'm supposed to warm up before my workouts.'

We can also use 'be not supposed to' to mean 'shouldn't' or something

is not a good idea, but you might do it anyway. Look at these

sentences—'You're not supposed to brush your teeth immediately after

eating.' (But a lot of people do.)

Or—'My Italian friend said carbonara isn't supposed

to have cream in it.' (But that's how I've always made it.)

Don't worry, I have since learnt how to make a proper

carbonara.

Another use of 'be supposed to' is to say what something or

someone is generally thought to be or do,

and it's like saying

'everyone says this, but I don't personally know if it's true.'

For example—'Snake plants are supposed to be easy to care for.'

Or—'Breaking a mirror is supposed to bring seven years of bad luck.'

Or—'She's supposed to be a brilliant doctor.'

You might see these sentences followed by 'but'

and a contrasting statement If you have personal experience or a different opinion.

For example—'Snake plants are supposed to be easy to care for, but I managed

to kill mine within a week.'

Okay, we're nearly at the end of the video, but first, I have some homework.

I would love for you to tell me in the comments about something that is

supposed to bring bad or good luck where you come from.

Let me know whether you found it to be true for you or not.

Also, this was a lot of information, so make sure you download the

free PDF and you complete the exercises in the exercise pack.

I've made them for you with love, and I hope you enjoy them.

I look forward to seeing you in the next video. Bye!