What's going on guys, welcome back to another
lesson with me Tom. Today we're looking at
ten past time expressions that you should
be using in your every day English. This is
going to be super useful guys and hang around
for the final phrase because that is one of
my favourite English expressions of all time.
Don't go anywhere!
If you want to tell a story that happened
in the past you are going to need past time
expressions. Now we probably all know about
things like 'yesterday' or 'last night' or
'last week'. Here are ten more that perhaps
you don't know that you should be using to
help you tell your stories.
Guys before we get started, make sure you
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lessons. Alright!
Because these are all past time expressions
we're going to be using a past tense. So it
could be past simple, it could be the past
continuous. Possible you might be using the
past perfect with a past simple tense so any
past tense will work perfectly with these
past time expressions. Do not use the present
perfect with any of these past time expressions
because these are points in the past that
are now finished, they are complete. So we
can't sue the present perfect to link it to
now. So only past tenses.
Let's start off with a very British English
phrase 'a fortnight ago'. A fortnight is two
weeks or fourteen days. It's a very British
expression, I don't think they use this in
American English. The 'ago' tells us that
it's in the past so a fortnight ago. That's
telling us that it was two weeks in the past.
The pronunciation fortnight. A fortnight ago.
Let's put that into an example sentence 'They
moved house a fortnight ago.' This phrase
I use all the time 'ages ago'. If we use the
word 'ages' it means a long time, we don't
know exactly how long but a very long time
so if I say 'ages ago' it was a long time
in the past. An example sentence 'My last
holiday was ages ago'. So my last holiday
was a long time ago in the past, ages ago.
Here's a super useful one. Ok, so today is
Friday, let's say today is Friday. Yesterday
was Thursday, how do I describe Wednesday?
It's kind of tricky. Yesterday was Thursday,
what's Wednesday? Alright, the phrase we use
'the day before yesterday'. That makes sense.
Ok, the day before yesterday. So 'I went swimming
the day before yesterday.' Now we can play
with this structure, so it doesn't have to
be the day before yesterday we could use week
or month or year. Now let's use it with week,
ok. So 'the week before last'. Now what we
are really saying is the week before last
week. So not last week, the week before last
week. Now we are not saying that final week
just because we understand, we know what it
means. So the week before last is two weeks
ago. Not last week, the week before that,
two weeks ago. The week before last. You could
say the year before last. So this year is
2017 so the year before last is 2015, that's
right 2015. So the year before last. So we
use this kind of structure to help us to talk
about not last year or last week but the one
before that one. Quite useful. So an example
'I went to Canada the year before last.' If
we want to look at a certain period in our
lives we can use the structure 'when I was...'
so 'when I was a child'. So now I'm focusing
on that period of time. The time when I was
a child. 'When I was a child we lived in France',
it's not true but it's an an example sentence.
You can change that so 'when I was a teenager'.
'When I was teenager I loved playing football.'
Now with this phrase you can also use used
to or would to talk about past habits. 'So
when I was a child we used to go and see my
Grandma every week.' So you can use used to
or would to talk about past habits as well.
Now if you are not sure how to use used to
or would I've done a video, you can check
it out right now. I'll put the link right
above. So when I was and then a thing so when
I was a child, when I was a teenager, when
I was a uni student, whatever you want.
This is a fantastic informal expression to
describe a time in the past that's quite recent
but not specific so not definitely yesterday
or the day before yesterday but another time.
We say 'the other day'. So I use this all
the time, if I'm telling a friend about you
know I saw a TV programme I'll say 'I saw
this great programme the other day.' And it
just means in the past maybe two days ago,
three days ago, doesn't really matter. That's
not the important thing, the most important
thing is the TV programme that I want to tell
you about. Not really when I saw it. So, the
other day is a really nice way to say, a couple
of days in the past, it's not important when,
'the other day'.
Another really nice expression to talk about
an undefined period of time in the past is
'a while ago'. Now again it's a long time
in the past, kind of similar to ages, I feel
like ages ago seems like it's a much longer
time ago. A while ago is yeah, is quite a
long time in the past but we don't know exactly
when and that's not important we don't really
care when it was but it was long enough in
the past to be a while ago. An example sentence
'The last time I saw John was a while ago.'
Often when we are talking about past time
we'll just use the day or the month or the
year. Now let's get our prepositions perfect
for these. So when we are talking about days
we use on. So 'on Sunday I went to the cinema.'
For months we'll use in. So 'in February I
went to Japan.' And of course with years again
we are using in 'I moved to Hong Kong in 2012.'
Obviously these time phrases could be used
not just in the past but also in the future.
But specifically we are talking about the
past today so remember it's on with the day
of the week, in with the month and in with
the year. If we want to talk about a moment
that literally just happened. It was not very
long ago, very recently in the past we could
say 'a second ago'. Now it's not literally
one second but we are using it to talk about
a very recent time in the past. A second ago
'John was here a second ago.' John was here
very recently, he's not here now but maybe
a minute ago, two minutes ago he was here.
So John was here a second ago. Again ago tells
us that it's in the past and a second a very
short period of time. A second ago. And finally,
probably in my top three favourite English
expressions. Yeah I think so, top three definitely.
This is so good! So this phrase 'back in the
day.' We are using it to describe a past time
not specific, we don't know when and we use
it often to talk about memories and quite
often happy memories. 'Back in the day I used
to listen to a lot of hip hop.' Right, so
we are using used to, ok? So it's a past habit,
so this one we can use with a past tense or
yeah a past habit like used to or would. So
'Back in the day I used to listen to a lot
of hip hop.' So in a past time, not specific,
probably when I was young, I listened to a
lot of hip hop, ok? So hip hop music. So 'Back
in the day I used to listen to a lot of hip
hop.' Another example 'Back in the day my
dad had a moustache.' And it was an amazing
moustache as well. So in the past, some time
in the past, when I was young, my dad had
a moustache, ok. 'I remember back in the day
people used to smoke in pubs.' Alright so
there, I remember back in the day, so a long
time ago in the past, people used to smoke,
smoke cigarettes in the pub. So that's a great
example of an informal phrase, very natural
phrase that you are not going to find in your
English course books but it's a phrase that
you are going to hear in conversations on
TV things like that. So back in the day is
easily in my top three favourite phrases of
all time. And I hope it becomes yours as well.
Eat Sleep Dreamers which of those phrases
were brand new for you? Which ones didn't
you know before you watched this video? Let
me know in the comment below and also if you
want to put them into a practice sentence
for me then please do and I will come down
and I will have a look at it. I'll correct
it if it needs correcting. I love to see you
guys practising your English because that's
how we improve right? We learn something,
we practise it and then it becomes a part
of us. So yes, put your practice sentence
into the comments below. If you haven't already
guys remember to hit that subscribe button,
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got new videos every Tuesday and every Friday
helping you take your English to the next
level. Thank you so much for hanging out with
me guys, I can't wait to see you again. This
is Tom, the Chief Dreamer, saying goodbye.
