This is an All Ears English Podcast Episode 2305.
Since when? How to use time phrases in English!
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We'll show you how to become fearless and fluent by focusing on connection not perfection with your American host Aubrey Carter, The IELTS Wiz, and Lindsay McMahon, the English adventurer coming to you from Arizona and Colorado, USA.
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Don't make the common mistakes when it comes to using time phrases like since, for, and ago.
Today find out how to do it right plus get a bonus connection tip.
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Hey Lindsay, how are you?
I am feeling great today Aubrey, how are you?
How's it going? Great!
I feel like it's been a while since you went on a vacation.
How long ago did you go to Slovenia?
It's already been a month and a half.
It was a month and a half ago that I went to Slovenia.
Crazy! I can't believe how the time has flown by.
It's time for another vacation.
I feel like I love to hear about your travels when you come back.
So you need to book a new one.
I need to get something on the books.
There's nothing on the books, which is shocking for me.
So we got to get something going here.
Yeah, it is a weird feeling.
It's weird. We just might have noticed.
I asked Lindsay, how long ago did you go to Slovenia?
We are talking today about time words that often trip up students.
We hear a lot of mistakes using a go, for, and since.
And this can cause confusion if you use the wrong one, because then we're not clear about the time.
Yes, for sure. We have definitely heard mistakes.
And Aubrey, where should we go from here?
Where do we want to start off?
Yeah, so first, just to kind of point out, the mistake that often is something like, you know, if someone's wanting to talk about how long ago they started learning English, they might say, my language journey started since five months.
And this is a mistake.
There are other ways you could say this.
You could either say it started five months ago.
I've been learning four, five months, or I've been learning since May.
Or it's sort of specific how we use each of these and what time needs to be shared, depending on which one we're using.
And you do want to keep these straight.
Otherwise, it will be confusing.
We're not sure what time you're talking about.
And I think there's probably quite a bit of translation from first language going on here, Aubrey, especially for Spanish or French, maybe Italian, the Romance language.
I think this works differently in a lot of languages where you have a word similar to for or since.
But maybe in your first language, it's used multiple ways or it's used in different ways.
So if you're translating directly, this will cause problems.
You have to learn how these are used in English instead of translating directly.
Yes, and then keep them all straight.
So let's go into, we're gonna go into all three in detail.
And guys, this is an episode where you're going to want to get the transcripts, right?
So go over to allersenglish .com slash app and or write things down, write these chunks down so you can finally internalize them, right?
Yes, absolutely. I think the examples are going to be very helpful, the role play.
So let's dive in with a go first.
How do we use a go?
All right. So this refers to a completed period of time in the past, like my trip to Slovenia, right?
So I turned that project in three days ago, that you can finish turning it in, right?
So it's done. Yeah, okay.
Something completed a trip.
I went three months ago.
I turned that in three days ago.
This is a completed time.
And we can share however, that is, if it was three months ago, 10 years ago, it was something completed in the past, right?
Or how long ago did you start learning Spanish?
So we can put it in the question form too.
Exactly, right? And then they would say, oh, five years ago, or there are a lot of different ways you can answer.
But if you're going to use a go, then you have to share how long ago that happened.
How long ago did you start learning French?
Wow, that's been a while.
25 years ago about I started learning French.
Yes. Well, that's a lot of time learning the language.
Amazing, amazing. It's good to be able to stick with something for so long, I think.
It's true, right? It shows stick to it.
Stick to it. I actually love that word.
Number two, we go into four.
Now we can use four when we're setting up these time constructions, but we need to use it differently than ago.
Right? Exactly. This is different, right?
This is referring to a period of time that something happens.
For example, I could say we've been married for 20 years.
So I'm saying this 20 year time period is how long the marriage has existed, right?
It's more about a period of time that something has existed or happened for.
So it would be fair to say that after four, we should see a number most of the time.
Would you say? Yeah.
He's lived there four, six months.
The student, you know, the mistake about your language journey, you can use four, but then right after you would have the number, the time, I've been learning four, five months, five years.
Yeah. I need a number after four.
Good. So you said we've been married for 20 years or he's lived there for six months again.
Anything else we need to know about this one, Aubrey?
There's a mistake to avoid that.
This happens a lot when we're asking questions that would be answered with four.
Like for example, how long have you been married?
And then you could answer we've been married for 20 years.
We'll often hear someone add the preposition at the end.
It's unnecessary. Sounds a little awkward.
They might say, how long have you been married for?
Just drop that preposition or how long has he lived there for?
You want to eliminate that four and just say, how long has he lived there?
Yeah. I think this is actually a native speaker mistake too.
Yes, for sure. I mean, I think in some context, I would make this mistake for sure.
And so it's not the end of the world.
It does sound more polished to not have that what they'll call sometimes a dangling preposition.
Right. Maybe not even a grammar error, right?
Grammatically not a big deal.
But if you think about if you're ever using words that are unnecessary, you could drop them and it'll be more concise and often more clear.
Not exactly a mistake.
More of just a shouldn't.
You shouldn't have be ending a sentence with a preposition.
It's just awkward. It's awkward.
It just sounds better without for sure.
Yes. Okay. Since is number three.
So what do we need to know here?
This indicates a specific time in the past and that the action has continued from that time in the past up to the present.
So often we use this with specific dates like I've been working for others English since 2019.
Yes. Good. Or my car has been in the shop since Tuesday.
Okay. So yeah, started in the past, continuing up until now.
Right, Aubrey. Exactly.
And this is really the biggest one that will trip people up in your first language.
You may have the word since I know this happens in French, where you would use that word and then say five months.
A period of time. It doesn't work that way in English.
We have to say since and then the specific date or day of the week that something started that is continuing up to now.
And we do hear that mistake a lot.
So if you come away with anything today, let's stamp out that mistake guys.
All right. And let's understand how to really use since.
I love it. What about sometimes we hear since when?
Since when? Yes. This is very idiomatic and it's really fun.
It's used to express either surprise, anger, annoyance, or doubt about something someone has said.
And so you might just respond with since when if someone says like, oh yeah, I exercise.
Since when if you're kind of joking and you know, they don't usually, but we'll also use a whole use it to start a question.
Like since when do you have the right to tell me to stop talking, right?
I'm annoyed. I'm frustrated and I'll use since when to start my sort of retort.
Right, right. Or sometimes you see in the movies, you'll have like this guy who's trying to date a woman and she's a very strict vegetarian, right?
But he's a big like McDonald's goer.
It is really unhealthy.
And all of a sudden he's a vegetarian and your friend call, you know, his friend calls him out since when are you a vegetarian?
I love that. He's like, well, since I started dating a girl, that's a vegetarian.
Exactly. Yes, because we see a change.
We're surprised by it.
We'll use this trunk, this idiomatic structure to indicate that we're surprised since when do you like that?
Yeah, this is a nice way to, in a fun way, kind of push back on people a little bit.
It's usually relatively playful, I would say, or just challenging, kind of challenging people.
Okay. And because of that, you're mostly going to want to use this around close friends, family, people you know well, people you can tease and give a hard time because it is pretty playful.
Because usually you're saying that you know something about them, that they've been this way.
In that context, for example, but yeah, you need information about them to be able to say since when X, Y, Z.
Right? It is something for close people.
Yes, it means you know them well.
Maybe they say, oh, I don't drink and they have always been a drinker since when?
Since when do you not drink?
Yeah, you're indicating you're surprised about something that they're saying, something that has changed.
Exactly. So that's really a connection skill right in itself, a little micro teaching within our episode today.
I love that one. Totally.
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Okay, Aubrey, let's break into a role play.
We're here. We are running into each other on the river paddle boarding.
Ooh, fun. Do you like to go paddle boarding sometime?
I do. I love paddle boarding the Salt River here in Arizona.
It's one of my favorite things to do.
There are these beautiful rock cliffs and there are always wild horses, tons of wild horses in the water that you just float past.
It's amazing. Seeing wild horses.
I never see them. Oh, my gosh.
That is magical. It really is.
All right. I'll start us out.
Okay, Lindsay, since when do you paddle board?
Just got a board two weeks ago and now I'm hooked.
Oh, how long have you been on the river?
Let's see. We've been here since 7 a .m.
So for about three hours.
Oh, nice. We had a late start, so we only got here 30 minutes ago.
So fun. Oh, my gosh.
Okay. I would love to run into you paddle boarding on the river.
I know. Our wishes were true.
I'd probably be in the water.
I'm not sure if I could balance on that paddle board.
I usually sit. I know.
There's some standing a little bit, but mostly we're sitting.
So we ran into each other and you said, Lindsay, right.
Since when do you paddle board?
Right? So you were surprised to see me.
Really, I know you well enough to know that you don't usually paddle board.
We've never talked about it.
I didn't know that you paddle board.
So this would be such a fun way to say that instead of like, I didn't know that you paddle board.
Right. When do you paddle board?
Yeah, it is challenging.
It's fun. It's playful.
It's saying that you know something about someone.
So really good. Yeah.
And then you said, oh, I just got a board two weeks ago.
So we're using ago here because you're sharing the amount of time this happened in the past when happened two weeks ago.
Yes. And then you said, how long have you been on the river?
Right? And you mean today, right?
And I said, let's see.
We've been here since 7 a .m.
So for about three hours.
So here we use two of these since 7 a .m.
So I'm still on the river.
Right. And this happens a lot that we'll chunk them together.
Right. We'll say what time we got there.
We've been here since 7 a .m.
That means we got there at 7 a .m.
And we've been here ever since we use this when it has there's been a duration of the activity up to now.
Exactly. Exactly. And then and then I went into so for about three hours.
Love it. And then what did you say, Aubrey?
And then I said, oh, we had a late start.
We only got here 30 minutes ago.
So again, I'm sharing how long ago that happened.
All right. Perfect.
So this I feel like this has been a very concise episode, but very important.
We've addressed three really building blocks of English since four.
And then with the other one ago, huge.
And you guys, as you're listening to podcasts and watching TV in English and reading books, keep an eye out for these, because as you see them used correctly, it's going to come naturally.
You'll know which one to use.
But the tips we've shared here today are really breaking down.
Why? Why are we using those specific words?
I love it. Any other final takeaway for our listeners today of what they should keep in mind?
Yeah. Well, two things.
I think since when I love how you pointed out, Lindsay, what a fun connection skill instead of just saying, I didn't know that about you.
Instead to say since when do you do that?
I think this is so fun.
Yeah. Look for those connection moments, right?
If you can swap in since when because you know it'll build some rapport.
Use that instead. Yeah, absolutely.
I agree. And always a takeaway.
Don't translate from your first language.
That is what is causing this student mistake.
So if you can avoid that and instead think in English as much as possible, notice the use of these in English so that you can avoid this mistake.
And final takeaway, hit the follow button on the show, guys.
Yes, make sure you go and don't miss a single episode.
We are dropping episodes five days a week here on Allers English.
So hit follow. All right.
Awesome. We'll see you next time.
All right. Good stuff.
Take care, Aubrey. Bye.
Bye. Thanks for listening to All Ears English.
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