How to Talk About the Future in English | Key Phrases for Predictions and Feelings!

- So not tomorrow, but tomorrow, tomorrow,

it's possible that I'm gonna have a barbecue.

- Oh, wow, and do you think that will happen?

What are the chances?

- I don't know, I'm preparing everything carefully,

but I don't want something bad to happen unexpectedly.

- I'm very excited to go to your barbecue.

- We need to learn more expressions

to talk about the future.

- Yeah.

- I'm very excited.

- Morning everyone, how are you?

- We need to learn more expressions

to talk about the future.

- All right, cool.

(soft music)

- The topic of today's lesson

was chosen by my super Patreon, Haru from Japan.

Thank you for being awesome, Haru.

She wants to know

how do you use some expressions for the future?

So that's what we're gonna do.

And if you want to request your very own

Papa Teach Me lesson,

you can do so by becoming my Patreon.

The link is in the description.

Okay, first of all, tomorrow, tomorrow.

I know a few languages have just one word for this,

but not in English, no.

We just have to say the day after tomorrow.

I know, it's stupid.

Yesterday, yesterday.

How do we say that?

It's the same thing the day before yesterday,

or you can say a couple of days ago.

The meaning is the same.

English really isn't that efficient.

And a really common mistake I hear

is talking about a time in the future.

For example, when are you going to Spain?

Two days later.

Can you see the mistake here?

In two days.

When you want to say a time in the future from now,

use the preposition in, and then the time.

In two weeks, in two months,

in two years, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

Okay, so question for you.

When do you think you're gonna come to London?

Remember, a time from now in the future.

In, blah, blah, blah.

Write your answer in the comments.

Also, this whole video,

I'm going to give you an opportunity to practice everything.

Your vocabulary is gonna be crazy awesome after today.

Okay, expressions that you'll need to talk about the future.

First, things which are possible,

possibilities or expectations.

For example, your friend returned from his date with Maria.

It's always Maria.

And you want to know how was your day?

And you want to know, is there going to be a second date?

Is a second date possible, expected, what?

Is a second date on the cards?

Is it possible? Do you expect a second date maybe?

You can use it in formal situations,

informal, casual, business, doesn't matter.

It's just a really good expression.

So again, let's practice this.

Do you think that traveling outside of your country

is on the cards this year?

For me, in England?

- [John] Hello.

- Dude, do you think that traveling to the U.S.

is like on the cards this year?

- [John] I don't know.

Do you have a love child that you've just found out about?

- You know, sometimes you get a feeling

that something is gonna happen soon,

or there is just a feeling in the air.

The expression is super easy because it's that, in the air.

It's like there's trouble in the air, you can smell it.

Maria's by herself. I'll let her tell it.

I was talking with a group of my mates last night.

Someone started talking politics,

and there was a lot of awkwardness in the air.

So in this case,

she means there was the feeling of awkwardness.

Everyone could feel it,

but we can also use this

to talk about a feeling of something

which might come in the future.

There's trouble in the air.

I can feel that trouble is coming.

Other more famous examples would be

love is in the air like that annoying song,

which I don't have copyright for,

or I can feel it coming in the air tonight

from the other song, which is great,

which I also don't have copyright for.

Again, it's just a feeling,

but if you add the preposition up before that sentence,

the meaning changes completely.

I'll give you an example. Listen carefully to how I say it.

Hey, how are your travel plans for Brazil next month?

Are you still going?

I don't know now, everything's all up in the air.

It's up in the air.

It means you don't have control over the decision,

the future of this thing, the outcome,

the results, you don't control that.

Another maybe more useful example

is when you apply for a visa,

and you don't know if the visa will be approved.

I applied for a visa to blah blah blah land.

But you know, with all the travel restrictions now

I don't know if it will be approved. It's all up in the air.

The expression is to be up in the air, but often, yes,

we add all up in the air.

I don't know why.

Let's practice?

Do you have anything in your life right now?

Maybe an application, a job interview.

You have to wait for the decision.

Is it yes, no?

You don't know and you can't control it.

Okay. Maybe you're really excited about the future.

Which expressions can you use?

Well, of course, the most obvious one

to look forward to something,

and remember that the next verb is in the -ing form.

For example,

Hi Maria. I'm really looking forward to seeing you tomorrow.

What's weird about this phrasal verb is

you can change the formality by changing the tense.

For example, if you use present simple, it sounds formal,

for example.

Okay. Thank you, Mr. Poo, your appointment is booked.

I look forward to seeing you next week.

A doctor might say that when booking an appointment,

or if you have a job interview,

and you want to tell the interviewer,

oh, my God, I'm so excited.

I'm really looking forward to this interview,

but you don't want to sound

like a five-year-old going to Disneyland.

Then use it in present simple

I look forward to seeing you and it sounds formal that way.

I don't know why it just does,

but if you want to sound just more casual, more informal,

use the continuous.

Again, it makes no sense why, just yeah.

- [Tom] Yo.

- Tom.

- [Tom] What's up, man? How you doing?

- I'm doing good.

Look, we're seeing each other next week, right?

- [Tom] Yeah. Yeah we are.

- Dude, I haven't seen you in so long.

I'm really looking forward to seeing you.

We should get ice cream.

- [Tom] Me too, ice cream and boats is what I want.

- Yeah.

So again, let's practice.

Is there anything that you're excited about?

Something that you're looking forward to?

Let me know in the comments.

Practice what you've just learned.

Try it formally, informally, simple, continuous.

It doesn't matter. Just try it.

Another maybe more common,

and just cooler way of saying you're excited

is to use the word pumped,

to be pumped for something, or to be pumped to do something.

Oh, my God.

I'm going snowboarding tomorrow. I'm so pumped.

Think of it, literally

like something is pumping excitement into you.

It's making you feel super full of energy, super excited.

This is very informal. It's not rude, but it's not formal.

So it might sound weird if you said that to your boss,

especially if your boss is kind of boring.

So, again, let me know in the comments.

Is there something that you're super pumped for?

Let me know.

Okay. Some expressions that just mean, eh, in the future.

If you want to say in the future, not a specific day,

you could say one day, or someday.

One day I'm going to own a flying car.

Just in the future, I don't know when.

And this is very useful

when you don't want to give a specific day.

For example, when can we see each other again?

Oh,

someday.

Or if you're waiting for something,

you know that it will happen soon.

You don't know exactly when, just very, very soon.

Maybe today, maybe tomorrow.

You don't know, but just very, very soon you could say this.

You had that interview last week, right?

When are they gonna tell you if you got the job or not?

Who knows? Any day I think.

Any day, or any day now.

Both of those mean, I don't know when in the future,

but maybe today, maybe tomorrow.

Just very, very, very, very soon.

Again, let's practice.

Try to use one, or all of those time references

in your own example in the comments.

Are you waiting for something to happen very, very soon?

Or do you want something to happen in the future,

but you have no idea when?

Let me know in the comments.

Practice, cool, okay.

The next three phrasal verbs are very useful,

and they show you how a story,

or a situation finishes.

End up, wind up, and turn out.

I've separated them

because these two are basically the same,

but this one is slightly different.

Let me show you.

Oh my God. Last night was so crazy.

Why? What happened?

Okay, okay, so we drank a lot, right?

That's not the point.

The point is we wound up on a boat to France.

We wound up on a boat to France.

So we skipped the little details,

and we went to the important end result of this story.

How did that story finish?

It finished with you on a boat drunk.

And, yes, we can change this for ended up.

We ended up on a boat to France.

They both mean the same thing.

Also, if that next word is a verb,

it should be in the -ing form.

Yeah. We wound up going to France.

What did you do last night?

We were thinking of going out,

but we couldn't decide where to go.

So we wound up staying home.

And turn out.

Yes, it talks about how a story or a situation finishes,

but, specifically, it's talking about some new information,

something you didn't know.

And you're like, what?

For example, last night you met a girl and you went dancing,

but then everyone started taking videos and photos.

She was famous.

You didn't know that that's new information to you.

So you can say this.

I went dancing with this girl last night.

She turned out to be super famous. I didn't even know.

And notice she turned out to be famous.

Not she turned out being, to infinitive.

So let's practice this.

How was your last date with someone?

What happened in the end? Did you end up getting married?

Did they turn out to be a bad person?

What did you wind up doing on your first date?

That's a dangerous question. A good one though.

So practice it. Answer in the comments.

Oh, another super useful phrasal verb.

I've taught this a few times before,

but it's very useful, and you should know it.

Now maybe something will happen,

or appear suddenly, or unexpectedly.

Use the phrasal verb come up like this.

Okay. I'm gonna have a barbecue on Saturday.

I think I planned it well,

but I don't want any problems to come up last minute.

So is anyone a vegetarian? You are.

Brilliant. Glad I asked.

You don't want a problem to appear suddenly,

or unexpectedly come up.

Probably the most common and most useful use of come up

is when you want to cancel a plan,

but you don't want to give a reason why you're canceling.

You just want to say, uh, something happened.

I didn't expect it, but bye.

So that's probably the most useful.

Hello?

Yeah, what now?

No, I can't, I'm filming.

Okay, yeah, I'm coming.

Yeah, all right, yeah, fine.

Okay, sorry.

Something's come up. I have to go.

Okay, basically, basically,

I was super pumped about the whole space tourism thing

that I applied for a space visa.

That was the space visa people.

I don't know if they're gonna approve my visa, or not.

It's all kind of up in the air,

but I'll probably wind up staying in London.

Anyway, I have another video coming any day now.

So thanks, again, to my super Patreon, Haru from Japan

for requesting today's lesson.

And remember if you want to request your own lesson,

you can do so by joining my Patreon.

The link is in the description.

You can also get worksheets

to practice some of my favorite videos,

remember the vocabulary,

and get some extra English practice.

And I'll see you in the next class.

(soft music)