This is an All Ears English podcast episode 2137.
This Friday or next Friday, how to clarify calendar dates in English.
Welcome to the All Ears English podcast downloaded more than 200 million times.
Are you feeling stuck with your English?
We'll show you how to become fearless and fluent by focusing on connection, not perfection.
With your American hosts Lindsay McMahon, the English adventurer, and Michelle Kaplan, the New York radio girl, coming to you from Colorado and New York City, USA.
To get real-time transcripts right on your phone and create your personalized vocabulary list, try the All Ears English app.
For iOS and Android, start your seven-day free trial at allyoursenglish.com forward slash app.
When someone invites you out, how do you know if they're talking about this weekend or next weekend?
Native speakers don't follow any rulebook on this.
Today, find out the key questions to ask to know the difference.
From intermediate to high intermediate and even to advanced fluency, with every course flowing naturally into the next.
No gaps, no guesswork.
No searching for extra resources.
Plus, you'll get live speaking practice, community, and teacher support.
It's a done-for-you plan.
Everything you need in one place.
All unlocked with a single, one-time investment.
This Black Friday only.
Build your English for the long term.
Start today.
Go to allersenglish.com slash blackfriday to save 50% off the normal price.
Expires at midnight on Friday. allersenglish.com slash B-L-A-C-K-F-R-I-D-A-Y.
Hey, Lindsay, how are you?
I'm doing great.
How are you, Michelle?
What's shaking in your world?
I'm good.
Yeah, well, I'm actually, I'm hoping to do some traveling next June.
Oh, not until next June.
I hope you take some vacations before then.
But June isn't that far away.
Wait, you mean June, 2024 or June, 2025?
Oh, June, 2024.
Oh, okay.
Yeah.
That is coming up soon.
Yes.
Okay.
Lindsay, have you ever been in a conversation like this?
I have Michelle.
It happens a lot.
Um, it is confusing, right?
I didn't quite know if you meant June 2024.
Cause that cause, June 2025 would be a long way off for your next vacation.
Right, right, right.
Exactly.
But this is the kind of stuff that happens.
So that's what we're going to be talking about today.
So guys, this is part one of a two part series.
So the second part will be coming out in the future.
If you don't want to miss that episode, you got to make sure that you hit follow.
So the episodes come to you.
I'm excited about this little series we're doing.
Me too.
This is an important grammar topic, right?
So guys, hit that follow button wherever you're listening Apple Podcasts Spotify, whatever your player of choice is.
Hit follow now so that this episode and the next ones will drop right into your listening queue.
All right.
So this is confusing, Michelle.
Tell us what the problem is here that we're trying to solve today.
All right, Lindsay, roll up your sleeves.
Okay.
No.
I already got them rolled up.
All right.
All right.
Mine too.
Okay.
So yeah, I recently spoke with a student who was unsure of how this works in English.
So for if somebody, if it's November and someone wants to talk about something and they did in June, would they say last June
Would they say this June?
It all gets.
A Moral of the story, I would say, is that it gets confusing for native speakers as well.
So today we're going to talk about the future.
And in the follow up episode, we are going to talk about the past.
So we're kind of going the opposite direction.
Interesting.
I think this is going to really be applicable to our listeners at that super high level, right?
You guys move to that 99% fluency level.
This is a small nuance, which is actually very important.
Okay.
Yes, exactly.
So um, and guys go on over.
Uh, listen to episode 2091 was trust your brain for better language learning with Steve Kaufman.
This is definitely an episode, a topic where you have to trust your brain.
For sure.
Go check out that episode 2091 and let's get into it today.
What do we need to know first off?
Okay.
Like I said, the biggest thing to know is that this is confusing for native English speakers as well.
It's like a role play.
That's something that could happen.
Yeah, it is.
And the other thing is it's a little open to interpretation.
It's not always a clear cut rule, um.
So sometimes clarification is needed and that's just a part of it, just like we did in our role play.
You said wait 24, 25 i thought you meant you know, and that's part of connection as well, and not being afraid to ask for that clarification.
Oh my gosh, i had this problem just this week when i was writing an email to maybe it was to you or someone on the team and i was saying like next Wednesday, this Wednesday,
I couldn't decide which one to say.
So you know what I did?
I said, this coming Wednesday.
That solved my problem, because I was concerned that you would be confused which Wednesday we're talking about.
And so this absolutely happens at work and in everyday life for native speakers.
Absolutely.
Yeah.
So let's talk about that role play.
I mean, why was that confusing?
I said next June because it was in the future.
But I mean, so I said we were in, yeah, so I mean, we are in the beginning of the year.
Yes.
So do you think that was the best word to choose?
Next June?
I probably would have chosen this June.
This June, just because it's the next June.
Oh my gosh, this is going to get complicated.
Yeah, this next.
It's the most immediate one.
So it's this June.
Yeah, I think I was the unclear one in this role play.
Like, sorry, that was me.
I agree with you.
I think if it's something that's in the current year, you should say this or just say the month.
Like, you don't need to say next June.
You could just say in June or this June.
Yeah, for sure.
And I think for next June, that would actually be June of 2025.
If we're in January of 2024, that's June of 2025, next June.
Yeah.
So, for example, I said, I'm hoping to do some traveling in June, or I'm hoping to do some traveling this June.
Like I said, this would make it very if you say this June, it makes it a little bit detailed.
It isn't necessary but it can be specific or help you clarify, especially with Lindsay saying wait this June or next June.
Right.
You want to use it.
Yeah.
What gets hard is when let's imagine the current time is July of 2023.
Right.
So if you say, you kind of have to say next June in a way, because we just finished the past June, the June of 2023.
So when you're closer to that month in the prior year, that's when we have to employ next.
Right.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah, exactly.
Okay, Michelle, let's get deeper into this.
Okay, so this could also be for days of the week.
So this Tuesday, next Tuesday.
Here's a general rule I came up with.
For talking about the future, either just say the day week month, or use next if and, this is the key, if it wraps around.
Okay, we're gonna do an example in a second.
Or use this if it's in the same week.
Now, that just kind of sounded like a big, mumble jumble of words let's do some examples so here we go it's monday in this role play and i want to make plans with lindsay for friday okay so i would say hi lindsay are you free friday yeah i'm free okay or i could say hi lindsay are you free this friday yep totally free okay so now would i say next friday if it's monday no doesn't make sense because the most immediate you're because you're no the answer is no michelle it goes along with the june thing right because it's it's it's too close it's in the same week so you're not gonna do that okay unless you're talking about the friday of the following week yeah and and Yeah, so that would be fine as well.
So it's all about how it wraps around.
What week are you in currently or what month or what day, right?
So let's do another example.
So here in this role play, it's September.
Okay.
And you are telling me about all your English meetings that you are planning.
Okay.
All right.
So we'll have a big team meeting in February.
Sounds good.
All right.
Yes.
Okay.
So yeah.
It's not going to because there's no February.
We're well past February.
I know that you mean this coming February.
Yeah, exactly.
And that leads us to this coming.
I like this coming.
Yeah.
So let's talk about it.
So that's the next role play.
So you could say it like this.
Let's do the role play.
All right.
So we'll have a big team meeting this coming February.
Great.
All right.
So that just makes it more clear.
Right.
It just means in the next, in the next one, like now, what if you said next?
So let's try that again.
So we'll have a big team meeting next February.
And remember guys, it's September of 2024 or 2025.
Oh, sorry.
I meant 2024.
Okay.
So then I was kind of confusing you.
Yeah.
But people would – native speakers might say this even though it is confusing, right?
That's the thing.
Yeah, go ahead.
Sorry, Michelle.
No, no, no.
You go.
You go.
No, I was going to say because it's technically in the next year.
That's the problem, I think.
Yeah.
It gets very confusing.
So our thing that we want you to walk away with is a couple of ideas, but also understanding that – you can understand the ideas and everything.
And then a native speaker says to you next February and you're like, what?
You know, because there's no, people don't follow necessarily a set of rules about this.
It can get a little confusing and you want to be able to just get clarification.
Exactly.
You're right.
Native speakers do not follow any rule book.
They kind of say what they want to say.
And really for us, we need to know the questions to ask to clarify.
Yeah yeah, and actually it's funny, i added this in after planning the episode um, so as i was planning it, i got a text from dan about a potential plan for something we can do next year for new year's day.
Um, and we guys it is actually december now and his text was i was planning this at the end of november.
Okay, so if he said next New Year's Day,
Do you think he meant 2024 or 2025?
Oh, that's actually a good question.
I don't totally know, but I think he might have meant 2025.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Is that what he meant?
Yes.
And I think so.
The only reason I knew he meant 2025 is because I know that we will not be in town to do that.
Yeah.
Okay.
This coming New Year's.
So I took some context clues.
But yeah, it's confusing, especially if you're talking about something that's not immediate.
Oh, it's confusing.
I mean, this is the nature of native English in the wild, right?
We can't control what native speakers are going to say and how they're going to present things.
So how do we connect?
What do we need to know, Michelle?
How can we sum this up here before we go into a role play?
Yeah.
Well, let's sum it up.
So number one is think about it like if the plans wrap around, so meaning if it's Thursday and you're talking about plans for the next Tuesday, right?
You want to think about, okay, so should I say this coming Tuesday, next Tuesday?
I think this coming is always a helpful one.
It's helpful.
And then the second thing is to consider how far away are the plans?
Because I think that's when it gets confusing.
If you're talking about know something in 2026 and it's 2025, another thing you can do is just say the year yeah yeah, i'm hoping to do some traveling in june 2025, yeah.
Or shorten that and say june 26 right, so in 26, that's another episode for another day right yeah yeah, and then, and then consider if you need to say this or next or this coming, because you might not need to.
You might just be able to say you know, if it's december and i want to do traveling in june of 2024, i might just say oh, i'm planning on doing some traveling in june and leave it at that, for sure, for sure.
Let's do a little role play and show our listeners, and i'm really excited for the next episode, which will go into The past.
The past.
Yes.
Yes, exactly.
So here we go.
We are talking about our goals for the new year, for 2024.
And in this role play, it is December and it is a Wednesday, which actually both of those things are true right now.
Okay.
Here we go.
I really want to run more in 2024.
I want to get more into strength training.
Should we help each other out, Michelle?
Be accountability buddies?
Yes.
Yes.
Okay.
Do you want to start going to the gym with me to train in January?
Why not start before?
Are you free Friday?
This Friday or next Friday?
Sorry, this coming Friday, not next Friday.
Oh, okay.
Let's do it.
By next December, I want to be able to run a marathon.
Ooh, wow.
We're getting into it, getting into it here michelle yes, and i have started working out again.
Lindsay really, that yes thing, i like that nice.
Yes yes yes yes um yeah, we'll see how it goes.
You've seen that in in the past almost 10 years.
You've seen this uh, waxing and waning, kind of yes, of the working out.
Yeah, but you know we'll see um.
So um, here we go.
We want to get healthy.
So you said no no, i said do you want to start going to the gym to train with me in January?
So I only need to say in January because it's the next month.
I don't, I don't need to say this coming January.
No, it's obvious.
We're all thinking about January.
It's coming.
It's pending, right?
Yeah.
And then it's Wednesday.
And what do you say?
And then I say, Hey, are you free Friday?
And that I don't need this Friday because it's so close.
Right.
It's it's Wednesday now.
So but for some reason I'm confused.
So I said this Friday or next Friday, which I shouldn't be confused.
I kind of put that in there for the role play.
But well, maybe you are because it's kind of a last minute plan.
Maybe some people aren't used to planning.
So last minute, two days before.
So you mean this Friday right away in two days?
Maybe you just make plans far out or something.
You know, I could see that.
Right.
Right.
True.
So it's almost like I have my calendar out and I'm like, this Friday.
So I mean this Friday in two days or the Friday of the next week.
Exactly.
And then I said, oh, sorry, this coming Friday, not next Friday.
Right.
So I'm clarifying.
And again, if someone asks you to clarify, use this coming.
Right.
Yeah.
That's a good clarifying term.
Yep.
Definitely.
What else?
And then you said by next December, I want to be able to run a marathon.
So- you could have said by December, but you're in December, so it's good to give a little clarity, don't you think?
Totally, 100%.
If you're in that month and you're talking about the month of next year, like 12 months from now, definitely say next December.
So that's a good rule of thumb, I would say, because that could get confusing.
Do you mean by the end of this month or what do you mean?
Yeah, that would be a lot to...
Yeah.
A lot of pressure to put on yourself just to meet the end.
So where do we want to leave our listeners today for our takeaway?
This is good.
This is a good topic.
This is meaty.
Yeah.
This can get confusing, guys.
We tried to boil it down to a few of the main ideas today, gave you some main guidelines.
But I think overall is know that even the native speakers are going to need clarification, or you are going to need clarification from them.
We need it from each other.
These kinds of things happen all the time.
So don't be afraid to ask.
And, you know, especially the expression to say this coming is very, very helpful.
Yeah.
I mean, there's nothing worse than walking away from an interaction and you've gotten an invite, but you don't know if it's this Friday or next Friday.
So you clear your calendar for both nights.
That's terrible.
No, no, we don't want that to happen.
Let's make our lives easier.
Let's connect guys.
Ask the questions.
Okay.
Good stuff.
All right.
All right.
Be sure to hit follow, because I'm excited for the next part of this series, which is going backwards.
Which could be more confusing?
And so we're going to clear it up.
All right.
We'll get to it.
All right.
We'll do it.
Okay.
Bye.
Bye guys.
Bye.
Take care.
Bye.
Thanks for listening to all ears English.
Would you like to know your English level?
Take our two minute quiz.
Go to allearsenglish.com forward slash fluency score.
And if you believe in connection, not perfection, then hit subscribe now to make sure you don't miss anything.
See you next time.
