How to Describe an Activity in the Past, Present, and Future in English 🚣‍♂️🌊🏊

Many of you have asked me to make an

English lesson where I help you talk about something

you're going to do, something that you've done in

the past or something that you're doing right now.

So I thought in order to teach you that and to

give you lots of example sentences, I would do something.

You might be able to guess what I'm going to do.

And so what I'll do is I'll talk about what

I'm going to do and give you ten example sentences.

And then when I'm doing it, I'll talk about what

I am doing and give you ten example sentences.

And then when I'm all done, I'll talk about what

I did do and give you some examples sentences.

So welcome to this English lesson about

the past, the present, and the future.

I think you'll enjoy it, and hopefully I don't get wet.

As you can see, I am going to go kayaking.

This is how you would talk about an

activity you're going to do in the future.

You use the future tense with going

to. I am going to go kayaking. You might use this

if someone asks you at the end of a

workday: What are you going to do after work?

You could say, I am going to go kayaking.

Now, there are three different ways to use this.

One is very formal.

You could use I am going to.

But you could also use a

contraction and say, I'm going to.

And then in informal English speech, we often say,

I'm gonna. So I am going to go kayaking.

I'm going to go kayaking, or I'm gonna go kayaking.

So what am I gonna do later this afternoon?

Actually, in just a few minutes,

I'm going to go kayaking.

Here's a little tip to help you remember to

use the future tense when talking about the future.

Start your sentences with a word

or phrase that references the future.

Start your sentences with words like tomorrow

or later today or next weekend.

When you do that, it automatically trains your brain to

use the future tense when you finish the sentence.

In this English lesson, I'm going to try and

talk about the same activities in each section.

So I'm going to give you ten example sentences

for the future section, the present, and the past.

So here are your first three

sentences in the future tense.

I am going to go kayaking.

I kind of mentioned that already.

I am going to bring my kayak down to the river,

and then I am going to put on my life jacket.

Safety first.

Here are your next three sentences.

I'm going to put my kayak in the river.

I'm going to get into my kayak, and

then I'm going to paddle my kayak.

So I am going to switch between saying I am going to.

I'm going to. And I'm gonna.

I'll use a variety, but pretty soon, I'm gonna put

my kayak in the river, I'm going to get into

my kayak, and then I'm going to paddle my kayak.

Okay, here are your next three sentences.

And the first one is in the negative.

We should at least do one in the negative.

I'm not going to fall out of my kayak.

At least I hope I'm not going to fall out of my kayak.

I'm going to go in one direction, and then I'm going

to turn around, and then I'm going to come back.

And then I'm going to get out of my kayak.

And then, of course, the last sentence, I'm going

to take my kayak out of the river.

You can't leave your kayak in the river.

It would float away.

So when I'm all done, I'm going to

take my kayak out of the river.

So I've moved back up the hill a little

bit because I want to use the same ten

sentences again, but this time in the present continuous.

I'm going to talk about each action that I said

I was going to do, but in the present.

And as I do them, by the way, the present continuous is

formed using the verb to be with the verb with ing.

And you usually use this in

situations where you're on the phone.

If Jen called right now, I

would say, I'm making a video.

I am making a video.

Or with a contraction, I'm making a video.

So I'm using the verb to be conjugated

with I, I am.

And then making as the rest of

the sentence, I am making a video.

In a moment.

Oh, one more thing.

Starting sentences with right now helps you

learn to use the present continuous.

And you'll see why in a moment.

Right now, what's the first sentence?

I am going to go kayaking.

I can't say I'm kayaking yet, can I?

Cause I'm not quite in the river.

We'll save the first sentence for later,

but let's do number two and three.

I'm bringing my kayak down to the river right now.

I'm bringing my kayak down to the river.

If I was on the phone, I would say,

I'm bringing my kayak down to the river.

And now I'm putting on my life jacket.

Safety first.

Okay, here we go.

I'm putting my kayak into the river.

Right now, I'm putting my kayak into the river.

And now I'm getting into my kayak.

So right now I'm getting into my kayak.

And hopefully I can get it out into the water.

I might have to aske Jen for a little push.

Here we go.

Hopefully it goes.

Here we go.

Almost there.

Just gotta go a little further. Ah.

Just gotta get through these lily pads. Wow.

This is, uh, not what I was expecting.

Hopefully I can get through.

Hopefully you are entertained.

Okay, now I'm paddling my kayak.

I am paddling my kayak.

It's really nice out here.

So as you can see, I'm not falling into the river.

I don't want to fall into the river because I

just remembered I have my phone in my pocket still.

But continuing with our sentences,

I'm going in one direction.

I said that I was going to go in one direction.

Right now I'm going in one direction.

And now I'm turning around.

Using my elite kayak skills.

I'm turning around.

And then hopefully, if it's not

too windy now, I'm coming back.

So soon, I'll be at the shore.

Right now I'm coming back to the shore.

So this should be the fun part.

I'm getting out of my kayak.

Hopefully I don't fall in the river.

I'm getting out of my kayak.

And now I'm taking my kayak out of the river.

There's a handy little rope on the front.

I'm taking my kayak out of the river.

Well, I did it.

I went kayaking.

I'm now using the past simple or the simple past.

You can say either, and it's the tense we

use when talking about something that we did.

Something that's finished, something that

happened in the past.

I went kayaking.

I brought my kayak down to the river.

I put on my life jacket, and I went kayaking.

There's your first three sentences I forgot to mention.

Words you can use to remind

yourself to use the past tense.

I'm going to use earlier today

to start the next three sentences.

Earlier today, I put my kayak in the river.

Earlier today, I got into my kayak.

Thankfully, I didn't fall into the river.

And then I paddled my kayak.

So earlier today, I put my kayak in the river,

I got into my kayak, and I paddled my kayak.

The next three sentences that I would use

to talk about what I did today.

I would say, I didn't fall into the river.

I'm very happy that I didn't fall out

of my kayak and into the river.

And if you remember, I went in one direction and

then I turned around and then I came back.

And then when I was all done, I got out of my kayak.

And then, of course, the last sentence, I

took my kayak out of the river.

Again, it's really important that you do

that because if you leave your kayak

in the river, it just floats away.

So when I was all done, I

took my kayak out of the river.

Well, thank you so much for watching this

English lesson, where hopefully you learned some example

sentences that you can use to talk about

the future, the present and the past.

Remember, if this is your first time here, don't

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And if you have some time and

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there's always more English lessons to watch. Bye.