Advanced English Grammar: Use the PRESENT Tense to talk about the PAST & FUTURE 😲

- Hello, this is Jack from tofluency.com.

Welcome to this lesson on how we can use present tenses

to talk about the past and also the future.

Now, that might sound quite confusing,

but here's a quick example.

I'm playing soccer tomorrow.

This is true, tomorrow I am playing soccer.

I'm using the present continuous to talk about the future,

but we can also use the present simple

to talk about the future,

and the present simple to talk about the past.

So if you want to learn more about that, stick around,

but first this video is sponsored by Italki.

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Okay, so back to the present tenses

for the future and the past.

Now a lot of you already know

about how to use the present simple.

Things like in the morning, I wake up at eight o'clock.

I then catch the bus, I go to work, and et cetera.

We talk about it.

We use it to talk about our daily routine.

And we use the present perfect

to talk about what is happening right now.

For example, right now I am making this video for you.

I am making this video for you.

But again, we can use present tenses

to talk about the future and the past.

And when we use it to talk about the past,

it is very specific.

But the present continuous

to talk about the future is really common.

And by the end of this lesson,

you're going to have a clear understanding

on how to do this.

I'm gonna give you lots of examples.

I'm going to give you the ability to practice as well.

Now I've made a couple of videos on these tenses before

and I definitely recommend at the end of this lesson

checking out the one where I talk about will

versus be going to versus the present continuous.

And I also just want to say at this point,

it's important to know that you should always be thinking

about grammar rules.

And in fact, it's better if you try

and internalize these sentences.

So at the end of the lesson,

I'm gonna talk about how you can do that as well.

Okay, present continuous and present simple future actions.

We use the present continuous to talk about the future

when we have already arranged something.

So you can think about it

in terms of what you write in your diary.

What you write in your diary.

So you might have a diary for Saturday

which says "Seven o'clock, go to the gym.

"Three o'clock, play football.

"Nine o'clock, race, have a race.

"Be in a race."

So you're very active,

you're doing lots of sports and activities.

What you can say is this.

At seven o'clock, I'm going to the gym.

Then at two o'clock, I'm playing football.

And at nine o'clock, I'm running a race.

We're using the present continuous here

to talk about future actions,

things that you have arranged.

Sometimes with someone but not always.

Okay, so arrangement.

And think about it in terms of what you put in your diary.

So somebody might ask you "What are you doing tomorrow?"

Present continuous.

What are you doing tomorrow?

You can say "Oh, I don't know yet.

"Oh, actually, I'm meeting a friend in the morning

"but the afternoon is open.

"What do you want to do?"

So I'm meeting a friend in the morning,

this has been arranged.

You're meeting at a specific location

and also you're meeting at a specific time.

Now let's just compare that really quickly to going to,

because these two are often confused

and sometimes you can just use either one,

they're quite flexible.

You can say this.

"What are you doing tomorrow?"

"Oh, I'm going to do some housework tomorrow.

"In the morning, we're going to go for a walk."

Now there's a slight difference here

because I'm going to do some housework,

I'm going to go for a walk,

this hasn't really been arranged.

It's your intention to do it

but you haven't set a specific time to do it.

You're not meeting somebody to do this at a specific time.

I'm going to go for a walk in the morning.

It's your intention, it's your plan,

but there's no specific arrangement.

Compare that to "I'm meeting my friend

"at 10 o'clock downtown."

That has a specific arrangement,

so there is a slight difference there.

But sometimes you can use either

to more or less talk about the same thing.

Definitely check out that video

because it's gonna help you.

In fact, I'll leave a link up here now.

The present simple to talk about the future

is a lot more specific, okay?

So we use this in a more specific way.

This isn't an arrangement

but when something is on a timetable, okay.

So you might think it's similar to the present continuous

but there is a difference.

For example, I can say "The movie starts at seven o'clock,

"so let's get there at 6:30."

The movie starts at seven o'clock.

This is something that is on a timetable.

It's something that you cannot change.

You can't call the cinema

and say "Is it okay if you start the movie at 7:30

"instead of seven o'clock because I'm busy?"

You can't do that.

And that's a good way to think about when to use this.

And again, at the end of the lesson,

I'm going to give you a great method you can use

so that you can just use these naturally

without thinking about rules.

But some more examples are

"We leave tomorrow at seven o'clock."

Because we're taking a train.

The train leaves at seven o'clock tomorrow.

We leave at seven o'clock tomorrow.

We can also say we're leaving at seven o'clock tomorrow

but to be more specific,

you say "We leave at seven o'clock tomorrow.

"We fly at four o'clock.

"The English lesson starts at four.

"The cafe opens at seven tomorrow morning."

So that's how we use the present simple

to talk about future actions.

And it's good to know this, especially for comprehension.

You might not want to use it

for those specific examples and use something else instead,

but it's more accurate when you do.

Having said that, it's just good to know

so you can understand TV shows

and when people speak.

Okay, so that's how we use the present simple

and present continuous for future actions,

but we can also use it in the past or for the past.

And this is quite specific now

and I'm going to give you an example

of when I found, how much was it?

I think 100, maybe 250 pounds in a wallet when I was 10.

We all go to the beach and I am looking for crabs,

so I have this bucket and I have a spade

and I'm trying to find crabs.

And I see something in a pool of water at the beach.

So I go into the water

and I dig out what I think is a crab

and I put it into the bucket.

And it wasn't a crab, it was a wallet.

So I find this wallet and I look inside the wallet

and it has 250 pounds inside it.

As you probably noticed,

I used the present simple and the present continuous

to talk about a story that happened in the past.

And this is called the historical present.

It's when we talk about something or tell a story

that we want to make more alive,

we want to make it more vivid and engaging.

And we can do that by using the present simple.

Now it's not always used

when people talk about stories in the past,

but I'm going to leave you a really good example

of when somebody used this in a very popular TV show.

So there's a video I want you to watch.

It's about a minute long

and it's Chandler from "Friends" telling a story

using the present simple and present continuous.

And you'll notice a lot of the time

when people use this, it's when they want attention.

They want to tell a story that's funny

or different or interesting.

You don't use it just to say what happened yesterday.

Like if somebody says "How was your day yesterday?"

So I wake up in the morning at nine o'clock.

I then have breakfast

and then I smell my coffee and I drink my coffee.

You don't use it just to talk about everyday situations

and something that happened yesterday.

Instead, we use it to tell a story

and to make that story interesting and engaging.

And my advice to you is, again, don't force this.

Don't use this in everyday life.

Don't think that this is advanced English.

Instead, be aware that this happens

and then when you watch TV shows,

when you watch movies, and people start talking

in the present about a story in the past,

it won't confuse you as much.

Okay, so that is how to use the present tenses

to talk about the future and the past.

And just in summary, the present continuous

for the future is used a lot.

We use this every day, we use this every day.

We're going to a fantastic restaurant tonight.

I'm playing football tomorrow, et cetera.

We use this a lot for arrangements.

But the present simple for the future,

the cafe opens at seven o'clock tomorrow.

That one isn't as common but it's good to know.

And then the present simple

and present continuous to tell stories about the past.

Again, that's nowhere near as common

as those about talking about the future,

but it's good to know

for when you watch TV shows and movies.

Now if you want to be able

to internalize these types of tenses

and to also know when to use them at the right time,

then learn, find sentences used in context.

Context is so important.

Then copy the sentences into flashcard software,

and then go through these flashcards.

And that way, you're going to get the repetition you need

so that you can use these tenses freely

and without thinking about grammar rules.

Now to learn more about that method,

click the link in the description.

And it's also going to take you to a page

where you can get access to the To Fluency program

so that you can download over 1,000 flashcard sentences

with audio and also get access

to the fantastic pronunciation tutorial.

So click the link in the description

to learn more about that.

And if you're new here, then subscribe

and leave me a comment saying hi.

And I welcome you to the channel.

Now to practice as well,

leave me some examples of the present continuous

and present simple for future actions.

And if you want to, tell me a story

using the present simple and the present continuous.

So practice that one too.

Okay, thank you so much for watching.

If you found this lesson useful,

then please share it with your friends.

And I'll see you in the next lesson.

Bye-bye.

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