This is an All Ears English podcast, episode 2024.
When's the last time you learned such useful grammar?
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In English conversations, when you ask someone about their most recent experiences, do you say the last time or last time?
Find out in today's episode when you have to know the difference and when it doesn't matter.
Listen in today.
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Hey there aubrey, how's everything going?
Excellent lindsay, i have a question.
I'm actually really curious when's the last time you played tennis?
Oh, just a few weeks ago i went out and hit the ball very casually right, just kind of just for fun, but competitively.
When's the last time i played tennis?
Oh, my gosh, it's been.
It's been a while competitively really, since college, really competitively.
I joined a few leagues in boston, you know, but that wasn't that was just fun, So competitively in college years ago.
Pretty standard for a lot of anyone who plays a sport in college or high school that after that you sort of start playing just for fun leagues, pick up games, but to really play competitive unless you go pro, like that's pretty much what it is.
Right.
It really is.
And also you've, I played tennis my whole, my whole childhood and into early adulthood.
Right.
And I kind of, now I just want tennis to be a fun thing.
I don't want it to feel boring. pressure and that kind of thing.
I get that.
You put in your time of having it be a high-pressure sport, and now we just want to play for fun.
It's complicated.
Yeah, we get these weird feelings towards our sports if we go too heavy into them, for sure.
But we're going to be talking today a little bit about the last time or last time.
This is going to be a high-level episode, Aubrey, today.
What do you think?
It really is, right?
It's a mistake that came up in a class and I was able to talk to the student about when we use either last time or the last time.
But as we got into it, I realized this is actually very tricky grammar.
It's not that cut and dry.
So you notice I asked Lindsay, when's the last time you played tennis?
I couldn't say when's last time you played tennis.
The grammar would be incorrect.
That would have sounded wrong to you.
Sometimes whether we use the article or not, it changes the whole meaning.
So this is really important that you guys know how this works in English.
Yes.
This is going to be a way for our listeners to push up to that 99% fluency level.
If you guys can nail this, it is one of the keys to that level of fluency.
But first Aubrey, what's another key to achieving that fluency with Oz, with a fun focus on connections?
Right, you guys need to make sure you hit follow here on the podcast.
If not, you're almost guaranteed to miss some episodes.
We publish four episodes every week.
I know that's not the standard.
Most podcasts it's like one episode a week.
So if you're only listening to one a week, you're missing quite a few.
Yes so guys, hit that follow button.
They make it very easy on Apple podcast or Spotify hit follow so that every episode will drop right into your queue and you will not miss single one.
Okay, Aubrey.
First of all, are there some past episodes that we should know about to go back to before we finish today's episode.
Yes, we want to share a couple of really good grammar episodes we've done.
We have been sharing a lot of grammar lately that matters, right?
Grammar that can really push you up to that level and help you avoid mistakes that are a little more glaring.
So a couple you can check out.
If you miss them is 1996 of the Allers English podcast Make, Have or Get.
All about causative verbs.
That one was awesome.
And what's another one, Lindsay?
Well, sorry, 1987 is... called Everybody Loves This English Grammar.
And I like what you said.
That one is about anybody and everybody.
But I like what you just said, Aubrey.
You know, grammar that actually matters, right?
One of our goals here at All Ears English is to show you the grammar that does matter and what doesn't matter.
And we've curated these.
I think we can do more of this curation for our listeners in the future too, Aubrey.
Absolutely.
Right.
There are a lot of things that you don't want to stress about.
Grammar doesn't want to be your number one focus.
You know our our focus here is connection, not connection.
Perfect grammar, not perfection.
But there are a lot of grammar issues, grammar mistakes in English, that are pretty easy to fix or recognize just once you're aware of them.
Like a lot of our students, I'll share.
Oh, you know, there's this mistake and they don't even realize.
They're like, I'm so glad you shared that.
I had no idea.
And then luckily we're able to take that and share it with all of you on the podcast.
Yeah, I love it.
So we'll get more into that in the future.
Guys, if you have topic requests, grammar questions, make sure you send them into Aubrey at allearsenglishcom.
So we'll get them in our queue.
All right, Aubrey, I'm ready to get into this.
Are you ready?
Yes, let's do it.
All right.
We're going to share two different ways that this expression is used, right?
The first way is to express finality.
And this is always the last time.
You have to have that definite article the, if you want to express that it's the final time something happened.
Okay.
It's final.
You will never do that thing again.
Right, Aubrey?
Exactly.
That's when we use the.
For example, the last time I spoke with my grandma, she told me she was proud of me.
And listen really quick to see if you can tell the difference.
If instead I said, last time I spoke with my grandma, she told me she was proud of me.
What's the difference there, Lindsay, in meaning?
So when you say the second one, last time I spoke with her, it implies that you'll probably speak with her again, but that was the most recent time.
Exactly.
So you can see what a change in meaning just to not have that article.
With the, the last time, it means the final time, right?
She has passed away.
The last time we spoke before she passed away, she told me she was proud of me.
And then if you leave out that the, the whole context changes.
Interesting.
So this, like we said, this is grammar that really matters.
If you leave one thing out or add one thing incorrectly, we totally will misunderstand what you're saying.
So here's another example.
The last time I drove that car, it wasn't running well, right?
Exactly.
And you can see that means the final time, right?
After that, it broke down.
You have not driven it since.
That was the last, the final time it happened.
And if you leave that the off again, last time I drove my car, it wasn't running well.
That means you're still driving it.
It wasn't running well last time, but it's.
You know, that hasn't totally broken down.
The meaning does change.
And this is the most common error we see students make often is either to add the when they shouldn't like what they mean is the most recent time, but they say the last time, which indicates finality, or vice versa.
They leave the the off when they want to say the final time.
Interesting.
Okay.
Do we have a few more examples here, Aubrey?
I think we do.
Yeah.
So we had just shared this already, actually.
I just put there, that was the last.
Oh, no, no.
What we want to talk about is demonstrative pronouns really quick.
We often use these with demonstrative pronouns that are like this, that, these, those.
And it adds a little bit of emphasis.
Share an example with us, Lindsay.
So for example, that was the last time I saw him.
So maybe before I say that, I've said all these other things about him.
And then that was the last time I saw him.
I lost, you lost touch.
Exactly.
Right.
So you're, you're right to say, we wouldn't sort of say this in a vacuum.
It's going to come after a few, some kind of story we've shared.
And then we're emphasizing that after that, I never saw him again.
That was the last time I saw him.
And then what's another example, Aubrey, what could we say?
Yeah, you could say, this is the last time I'm coming to this cafe.
The service is terrible, right?
So we're taking that demonstrative pronoun to really emphasize finality.
Like, this is the final time this will happen.
We'll say, this is the last time I'm doing this.
And I could see someone just getting really upset and saying that somewhere, right?
If they're ignoring you completely.
We have a place that's super famous here in Colorado called Casa Bonita.
And it's it was actually it's they talk about it in South Park and the TV show South Park.
It's really famous as a cultural icon, but it's known for terrible food and terrible weight like service.
But it's like a circus inside.
They have cliff divers.
They have crazy stuff happening.
It's a humongous place.
It's famous.
It was in the New York Times recently.
But they're reopening it with really high quality food.
So I'm interested to see how many people will be saying, this is the last time I'm coming here.
Oh, that's so interesting.
So it was more about the experience and you just sort of suffered through the terrible food and service.
Well, the food was like inevitable.
They say like people would get sick.
I mean, just bad stuff.
So they overhauled the kitchen completely.
Wow.
That's so interesting.
Have you been yet?
You'll have to go when they reopen.
I've actually never been even before it was closed down in COVID, right?
Because they just couldn't sustain that after that.
And then now it's reopening.
I've never been, but everyone that's grown up here in Denver or anywhere in Colorado, it's a like, it's an icon in their lives.
School trips, family nights out, like it's one of those icons.
Oh, that's awesome.
I'm excited they're reopening so that you can check it out and let us know.
Is it still terrible?
It's ridiculous.
The building is super ornate.
It's hilarious.
Anyways, fun fact about Colorado.
So let's go into the second one, right?
So that first Usage is all about finality, a final time something happened.
And the second is the most recent time.
And what's tricky about the grammar here is in order to indicate the most recent time.
You can use either way either last time without the the, or sometimes last the last time with the.
This is a little bit dependent on regional dialects.
Some people will feel like oh, that sounds off to say the last time when you mean the most recent time.
And some people won't.
This will be an interesting thing for you guys to either ask Native friends about.
Lindsay, I'd be curious what people you know think, because it's interesting.
If you look online, people that will be like arguments are like No, you can't say the last time.
And other people are like I do all the time.
It sounds right to me.
Interesting.
Well, let's go through these examples and then I can think about what you know, what people that I know might say.
So let's give some examples here.
Aubrey, what's the first example?
So first one you might hear, last time I went to the store, I bought apples.
Now this is how I would say it.
I would just say, last time I went to the store, I bought apples.
But you will hear native speakers say, the last time I went to the store, I bought apples.
Yeah.
You know what?
I am agnostic, i would say both totally.
I hear, both for sure, and the more i like sort of research, this i'm like, this is kind of fascinating to me.
So this is really what makes this grammar tricky is we would love to be able to tell you ooh, if the article is there, it means the final time, that's the last time you ever did that.
Yeah, it'd be so much easier and tidy.
Right, neat and tidy.
But guess what?
Language is never neat and tidy, because human beings use language and human beings are not neat and tidy.
Exactly.
So unfortunately for this one, for when we're talking about the most recent time, something happened.
You just have to know from context, right?
If someone's saying last time I went to the store I bought apples, or the last time I went to the store I bought apples, the context just makes sense that this was the most recent time.
Unless they share more information about why they're never going to that store again.
They just mean the most recent time.
Yeah.
And there are also certain clues.
You could look for context clues, you could look for extra vocabulary.
Like the last time I ever went to that store, I bought apples.
Good point.
We'll add ever often if we want to indicate finality.
Yes.
Yeah.
So look for other little vocabulary words, hints, context of the story.
Did that person leave that town?
Right.
Did they move out of town?
Something like that.
That's how we know the difference.
Okay.
Another example.
Are we ready for it, Aubrey?
Yeah, let's do it.
Okay.
We had pizza last time we went out.
So tonight, let's try a Thai restaurant versus...
That just means the most recent time, but you will also hear native English speakers say we had pizza the last time we went out, so tonight let's try a Thai restaurant.
Exact same meaning.
In both cases, they just mean the most recent time.
Yeah, I'm 100% yes for both.
Yeah, right?
Like they both sound equally correct to me.
So that's good news for our listeners, right?
Because it's about connection.
We have some options here.
And you know, if someone decides to come up and say you're wrong today, Again bring it back to.
Did you understand what I said?
Did you understand what that event meant in my life?
That's the most important thing that they need to take away from what you're saying.
Right, Aubrey?
Exactly.
Right.
So the good news is here.
Natives, native English speakers aren't going to be like oh, my ears are bleeding, depending on which one you use.
Right.
So the only tricky thing for language learners, the most tricky thing, is understanding what someone else means.
And like we were sharing context clues.
Right.
Think about what they're saying.
And often it won't really matter or wait to see what they say next.
Or you could ask them, you know, oh, have you been since?
Are you going to go again?
Yeah.
And that's another great way to practice your English.
Ask follow up questions.
Right.
Right.
Yeah.
Mm hmm.
Okay, Aubrey, what's next?
What else do we need to know here?
Yeah, so you want to think about for questions.
We often use this structure, this grammar structure, to ask someone about their most recent experiences, which is such an excellent connection tool, right?
So for example, you might say, when was the last time you went to the movies?
Or like I asked Lindsay at the top of the episode, when's the last time you played tennis?
Yeah, when was the last time you went to the movies, Aubrey?
And what did you see?
I think the new Guardians of the Galaxy movie is the last time I went.
We took all the kids.
It was really fun.
What about you?
Oh, I know I went a few weeks ago, but I can't remember what I actually saw.
What was it?
Didn't leave too strong of an impression on you.
Yeah, I'm having a hard time finding movies that I love these days.
I'm just not finding a lot of great movies out there.
There have been a few times that I wanted to go and we'll check.
We use Flickster, the app to find out movie times.
And I'm not really impressed by anything.
There's not a lot out there.
I'll wait and watch that at home.
It's true.
It's true.
But I've watched a lot of movies.
Like I watched Benjamin Button on my flight. yesterday or the day before that.
I love that movie.
It's so deep and profound.
Don't you think?
It's a great movie.
Yes.
I haven't seen that in a long time, but that's a great one.
You guys should check it out if you haven't seen it yet.
Brad Pitt, he like ages backwards.
It's very interesting.
It's incredible.
Yeah.
It makes you think about life a lot.
It really does.
So one thing I want to point out, this is interesting.
Natives do this a lot where we will always use a contraction, and this is one of those cases, right?
A lot of our examples we're saying like, when was the last time?
But when we're speaking we're almost always going to make a contraction out of when and was and say when's the last time.
And it almost sounds like you're saying when is the last time, but it's actually when was.
It's kind of interesting.
We do that in a few other places in English.
I can't think of them right now, but we do this sometimes when it is a past tense of the verb.
But we're just saying when's the s, apostrophe s right.
So keep in mind that it's.
You know, it's past tense um, because if you hear wins and then need to write it yeah, you're writing out there you might think oh, this must be when is wins.
Nope, when was we're talking about the past?
Yeah interesting, good to know.
All right aubrey, should we throw this all into a role play for our listeners?
Yes, let's do it.
So in this role play, lindsay and i are having coffee together.
Okay, here we go.
So I'll start us out.
Ready?
This might be the last time we meet here.
It's super crowded.
True.
I like the place we met last time.
Maybe we can try it again next time.
Sounds good.
So how are you?
It's been a while since the last time we talked.
Yeah, we've been playing a bit of phone tag.
We've both been busy, I think.
For sure.
I can't remember the last time I had any spare time.
Ooh, we got a lot of blasts here.
Yeah, right.
Let's go through and we'll share which one we used.
Hopefully from just the context of the conversation you could tell if we were talking about the final time or the most recent time, but let's share which ones we used.
Before we go into it, I'll just ask you have you had this kind of event Aubrey, where a place you used to frequent just kind of blew up, as they say, and it became really popular and all of a sudden you just had no interest in going?
Yes, absolutely.
There's a coffee spot not too far away that I would sometimes go and work from.
And there were always couches and tables and lots of space.
And then I think just a lot of people found out about it.
It's good coffee, good food, and now it's packed.
So I just can't ever go.
It was a hidden gem before and it's gone mainstream.
Totally.
That's too bad.
That's sad.
When that happens.
A lot of that's happened to a lot of breweries, like in boston there was a great brewery night shift which no one knew about before, and then all of a sudden everyone started going and it just became intolerable.
Like you just couldn't eat.
No elbow room.
You're just like elbow to elbow with people just now.
We need a new spot.
Yeah, i like that name for a brewery though night shift.
That's very clever, it's cool.
All right, good stuff.
So where do we go first?
So Aubrey, you said this might be the last time we meet here.
And this is linked back to the example we used earlier.
You know, this is the last time I'll come to this restaurant, for example.
Exactly.
Meaning the final time, right?
I'm saying it's too crowded.
I'm not coming here again.
Yeah, here we need to have the right Aubrey because it's finality.
Exactly.
Without if I say, you know, this might be last time we meet here.
That's where there's a little more of a glaring error.
That's just incorrect grammar.
It sounds strange.
So kind of our pro tip here is when in doubt, add the the.
Keep the the.
Good point.
So, even though sometimes someone might say last time I did this, if you always add the, the last time I did this.
You can never go wrong.
You can never go wrong.
I love that.
Good pro tip.
Yeah, that's how we do it.
What's next?
What did I say here?
Then you say, I like the place we met last time.
And this means the most recent time, right?
The most recent time we met up.
And it would not.
I, my regional dialect.
I'm used to more saying and hearing you know this.
I like the place we met last time.
I wouldn't say the last time.
Yeah, I think, but it's not wrong if you do.
It's not.
Yeah.
You will hear native speakers add the, the, I like the place we met the last time.
Right.
It's not wrong.
For some reason, I feel the same way.
I feel like in this context, because it's coming at the end of a sentence, it feels like the sentence should end.
I would prefer to say I like the place we met last time.
Right.
Last time feels a little more colloquial, a little more friendly.
But if I were to extend it and say I like the place we met last time we went out or the last time we went out that could, I would be more likely to add the
Yeah, it's interesting because thinking about why we use the or not with this expression is is a lot to do with what the is right.
It's a definite article where you're defining something specific.
So the more you define it, the more the the feels necessary, right?
The last time we went out, I'm giving more detail.
I'm making it more definite.
So I feel like I need that definite article a little more.
Where, if I say super general, when we would not use a definite article, then I'm like I don't need the the
But it is very much... sort of optional here, right?
There's not a specific, mostly because of regional dialects, right?
You may have grammarians say, oh no, if you're talking about the most recent time, you cannot use a definite article.
But native English speakers break that rule all the time.
You'll hear them use the the.
Yeah.
That's why the key is connecting, listening to who's around you, you know who you're living with in the community and kind of mirroring what they're saying for the most part, except for some glaring, glaring errors.
We don't want to repeat guys.
This is okay.
Okay.
Yes.
Yeah.
Okay.
Add the, the, so yeah, if when in doubt use the, the last time.
Yeah.
And then you said, sounds good.
So how are you?
It's been a while since the last time we talked.
So here the, the is optional.
Right?
It's that second usage, the most recent time.
You'll hear it both ways.
It's been a while since last time we talked, or it's been a while since the last time we talked.
Most native English speakers, I think, will use the there because it's more defined, right?
We're giving a specific defined time that we talked.
You're giving more information.
So kind of more information and context you're giving, the more likely you are to get that, the in there.
But both are correct.
Like I wouldn't bat an eye if someone said It's been a while since the last time we talked.
Not at all.
It would actually sound very native and natural, you know, very local.
Absolutely.
What else, Aubrey?
Do we have one more?
Yes.
And the last thing I said was, I can't remember the last time I had any spare time.
And again, this is that second use, meaning the most recent time I had any spare time.
But it does feel more right to me to have the the because I'm giving more information, right?
The last time I had any spare time.
Yeah.
This one.
I feel like I would almost always put the here.
You know, but definitely we'll hear, depending on how informally you're speaking where you're from, you might still hear a native say I can't remember last time I had any spare time.
Yeah, that's true.
Say it fast, say it naturally.
Talking really informally and fast.
Sounds right.
Yeah, it's so true.
What's the takeaway for today?
This is good.
I feel like we're showing our listeners, you know, the realities of English.
For sure, right?
The grammar of this, last time versus the last time, is really tricky in English.
But pro tip, when in doubt, add the.
Because sometimes if you leave the off, like we shared a few examples, it feels much more incorrect.
The grammar is wrong.
It doesn't make sense.
And you can always add the.
And someone might kind of be like, that's not normally how I would hear that.
But that's because of their regional dialect.
Yeah, I love that pro tip.
And most important thing, guys, focus on that connection.
Listen, the key is listening.
What do people, what do native speakers around you say?
What are they saying?
You know, when you're out at a restaurant, you overhear conversations.
What are they saying?
Try to repeat what you hear, okay?
Yes, absolutely.
Awesome, guys.
So now you know, feel free to ask someone about the last time they did something, because this is a great connection skill to be able to chat about recent experiences.
Yeah, and that's the key.
Maybe we'll do actually a follow-up episode to today's episode on conversation starters.
Now that we have the skill we know the or know the what are the questions we could use to start a really nice conversation about someone's most recent experiences?
Yes, I love that.
Make sure to hit follow guys so you don't miss that episode.
Yeah, that'd be a very cool part two.
So guys, hit that follow button and we'll see you in the part two version of this episode.
Awesome.
Thanks, Lindsay.
I'll see you next time.
All right.
Bye, Aubrey.
Take care.
Bye.
Bye.
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