How to use "Be Supposed To" in English

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Hey everyone, welcome back.

In today's class I'm going to explain.

No, absolutely not, no Putin get out,

you're not supposed to be here.

- I can stay?

- No. - Five minutes.

- Out.

Jesus, that guy.

So imagine that you are walking to work in the morning.

Your boss expects you to be there at nine.

When there is an expectation, we can use this structure,

be supposed to do something.

Everyone expects me to arrive at nine, okay,

that's the expectation, so how can I write this?

I am, because me, supposed to be at work at nine.

That next verb is in the infinitive.

I'm supposed to be at work at nine,

that is the expectation.

So I check my watch.

Oh, no, 9:20, I'm late.

My boss, the office,

everyone expected me to be at the office at 9:00 a.m..

Two important things.

One, this is always in that passive structure,

you don't change this.

Two, if you need to change the time, change the be verb.

For example, everyone expected, past,

me to be at work at 9:00 a.m..

That's a past expectation,

so we change present to past, easy.

9:20, I was supposed to be at work at nine,

I'm so fired.

Okay no, three things, pronunciation.

You can pronounce this as supposed to, that's okay.

Just make sure your pronunciation matches mine,

supposed to, supposed to.

You don't pronounce the ed, supposed to, no.

Supposed to, but casually,

naturally we usually just pronounce this like supposed to.

So say it with me, supposed to.

The whole sentence, I was supposed to be at work at nine.

Again, it's an option.

You can pronounce it supposed to.

You can pronounce it supposed to, both are good.

Let's do this next one together.

Your friend invites you to the cinema.

So you say, yeah, sure.

What time?

Your friend says let's meet at eight.

Great plan, I'll see you at eight.

But we all know, oh your friend is waiting.

It's 8:30, but suddenly, hey, I'm here.

She wants to say I expected us to meet at eight.

How can she say that?

We were because it's a past expectation,

supposed to or supposed to meet is the verb at eight.

The expected time.

We were supposed to meet at eight.

What the hell?

So she hates you forever now.

So you go home, you cry, you go to sleep.

Ah, it's a new day.

You feel great.

What's the weather going to do today?

Hmm, let me check my phone.

A sunny day today, amazing.

Your friend asks you about the weather.

What is the weather looking like today?

If you want to know about the weather for today,

what's it gonna do?

Sunny, rainy, what?

This is a very common question.

What's the weather looking like today?

He expects sun so.

Well, it's supposed to be sunny.

Great news.

You go outside and it's sunny.

You're so happy.

But then yeah, you remember that you live in England

and it was supposed to be sunny today.

Remember you expected sun.

So it's a past expectation, it was supposed to be sunny.

Also we talk about the weather as an it.

Ah, okay.

Let's use a negative.

You are planning a surprise birthday party

for your girlfriend.

You want to decorate the whole house.

So you invite your girlfriend's best friend

to come and help.

But oh my God, she falls over.

She's so clumsy that she knocks you over too.

So silly.

But then oh no, your girlfriend comes home.

This is a disaster.

She's early.

You are expecting her to come home two hours from now.

How can you say that?

Honey, you aren't supposed to get home

for another two hours.

Really easy.

Add the negative to the be verb.

You aren't supposed to get home.

Get can also mean arrive.

You aren't supposed to get home for another two hours.

You and my best friend, is this my surprise party?

Oh, she wants to say I didn't expect you to plan anything.

That was not the expectation.

Remember it's a past expectation.

So you weren't supposed to plan anything.

And she kisses you because you are an amazing boyfriend.

Also we use be supposed to when we want to give a rule,

an obligation in a more soft or polite way.

For example you want to say the rule is you mustn't smoke

in here in a soft polite way.

So you aren't supposed to smoke in here.

You're just saying the expectation

is that you don't smoke in here.

Easy right?

Okay, test time.

You want to say I expect to finish work at 6:00 PM.

How would you say that?

You have five seconds.

(upbeat music)

Ah, I'm supposed to finish work at six, but I might be late.

Ah, and now you're waiting for your pizza.

The app said the delivery time was expected 20 minutes ago.

Yeah I know.

I was expecting it to arrive before now.

How can you say that? (gentle music)

It was supposed to be here by now.

And finally we've, no, Putin again.

You're not supposed to be here Putin, get out.

- Ouch, ouch.

But where am I supposed to go?

Everybody hates me now.

Where am I supposed to go?

- I don't know, not here.

What do you think?

Where is Putin supposed to be?

Let me know in the comments.

And if you really want to take your English

to the next level, you're supposed to keep studying.

How?

With the Ultimate English Ebook.

You can get it at the link in the description.

It has a ton of extra English practice

so you can make sure all of this sticks in your head

and it updates monthly with more of my drawings, challenges,

and tasks to take your English to the next level.

And okay if you like this class,

you're supposed to subscribe and like this video

and share it with your friends who also study English

and I'll see you in the next class, bye.

(gentle music)