How to use "Be Supposed To" in English

23,080 views ・ 2022-08-06

Learn English with Papa Teach Me


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- Subtitles are available and if I speak too fast
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or if I speak too slow, change the speed of this video.
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Hey everyone, welcome back.
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In today's class I'm going to explain.
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No, absolutely not, no Putin get out,
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you're not supposed to be here.
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- I can stay?
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- No. - Five minutes.
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- Out.
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Jesus, that guy.
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So imagine that you are walking to work in the morning.
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Your boss expects you to be there at nine.
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When there is an expectation, we can use this structure,
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be supposed to do something.
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Everyone expects me to arrive at nine, okay,
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that's the expectation, so how can I write this?
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I am, because me, supposed to be at work at nine.
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That next verb is in the infinitive.
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I'm supposed to be at work at nine,
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that is the expectation.
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So I check my watch.
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Oh, no, 9:20, I'm late.
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My boss, the office,
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everyone expected me to be at the office at 9:00 a.m..
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Two important things.
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One, this is always in that passive structure,
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you don't change this.
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Two, if you need to change the time, change the be verb.
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For example, everyone expected, past,
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me to be at work at 9:00 a.m..
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That's a past expectation,
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so we change present to past, easy.
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9:20, I was supposed to be at work at nine,
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I'm so fired.
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Okay no, three things, pronunciation.
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You can pronounce this as supposed to, that's okay.
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Just make sure your pronunciation matches mine,
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supposed to, supposed to.
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You don't pronounce the ed, supposed to, no.
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Supposed to, but casually,
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naturally we usually just pronounce this like supposed to.
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So say it with me, supposed to.
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The whole sentence, I was supposed to be at work at nine.
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Again, it's an option.
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You can pronounce it supposed to.
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You can pronounce it supposed to, both are good.
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Let's do this next one together.
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Your friend invites you to the cinema.
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So you say, yeah, sure.
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What time?
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Your friend says let's meet at eight.
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Great plan, I'll see you at eight.
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But we all know, oh your friend is waiting.
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It's 8:30, but suddenly, hey, I'm here.
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She wants to say I expected us to meet at eight.
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How can she say that?
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We were because it's a past expectation,
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supposed to or supposed to meet is the verb at eight.
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The expected time.
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We were supposed to meet at eight.
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What the hell?
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So she hates you forever now.
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So you go home, you cry, you go to sleep.
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Ah, it's a new day.
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You feel great.
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What's the weather going to do today?
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Hmm, let me check my phone.
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A sunny day today, amazing.
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Your friend asks you about the weather.
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What is the weather looking like today?
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If you want to know about the weather for today,
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what's it gonna do?
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Sunny, rainy, what?
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This is a very common question.
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What's the weather looking like today?
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He expects sun so.
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Well, it's supposed to be sunny.
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Great news.
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You go outside and it's sunny.
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You're so happy.
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But then yeah, you remember that you live in England
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and it was supposed to be sunny today.
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Remember you expected sun.
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So it's a past expectation, it was supposed to be sunny.
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Also we talk about the weather as an it.
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Ah, okay.
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Let's use a negative.
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You are planning a surprise birthday party
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for your girlfriend.
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You want to decorate the whole house.
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So you invite your girlfriend's best friend
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to come and help.
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But oh my God, she falls over.
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She's so clumsy that she knocks you over too.
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So silly.
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But then oh no, your girlfriend comes home.
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This is a disaster.
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She's early.
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You are expecting her to come home two hours from now.
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How can you say that?
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Honey, you aren't supposed to get home
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for another two hours.
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Really easy.
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Add the negative to the be verb.
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You aren't supposed to get home.
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Get can also mean arrive.
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You aren't supposed to get home for another two hours.
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You and my best friend, is this my surprise party?
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Oh, she wants to say I didn't expect you to plan anything.
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That was not the expectation.
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Remember it's a past expectation.
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So you weren't supposed to plan anything.
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And she kisses you because you are an amazing boyfriend.
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Also we use be supposed to when we want to give a rule,
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an obligation in a more soft or polite way.
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For example you want to say the rule is you mustn't smoke
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in here in a soft polite way.
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So you aren't supposed to smoke in here.
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You're just saying the expectation
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is that you don't smoke in here.
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Easy right?
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Okay, test time.
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You want to say I expect to finish work at 6:00 PM.
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How would you say that?
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You have five seconds.
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(upbeat music)
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Ah, I'm supposed to finish work at six, but I might be late.
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Ah, and now you're waiting for your pizza.
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The app said the delivery time was expected 20 minutes ago.
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Yeah I know.
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I was expecting it to arrive before now.
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How can you say that? (gentle music)
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It was supposed to be here by now.
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And finally we've, no, Putin again.
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You're not supposed to be here Putin, get out.
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- Ouch, ouch.
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But where am I supposed to go?
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Everybody hates me now.
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Where am I supposed to go?
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- I don't know, not here.
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What do you think?
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Where is Putin supposed to be?
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Let me know in the comments.
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And if you really want to take your English
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to the next level, you're supposed to keep studying.
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How?
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With the Ultimate English Ebook.
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You can get it at the link in the description.
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It has a ton of extra English practice
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so you can make sure all of this sticks in your head
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and it updates monthly with more of my drawings, challenges,
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and tasks to take your English to the next level.
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And okay if you like this class,
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you're supposed to subscribe and like this video
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and share it with your friends who also study English
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and I'll see you in the next class, bye.
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(gentle music)
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