This is an all English podcast, Episode 15 28, these future phrases are a taste of things to come.

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.

Aubrey Carter, the Isles Whiz, and Lindsay McMahon, the English adventurer coming to you from Arizona and Colorado, USA Today.

You get the second episode in our series on how to sound interesting when you talk about the future today, learn about how to talk about your plans when the dates and times are more fixed in English.

Hey, Aubrey, welcome back to the show, so excited to have you on. English, you're always over there and I'll energy. We love it when you come over here. Yes. Lindsay, it's so fun to be over here. I love and energy just because so fun. But it's really fun to come over here, too. So good to mix it up.

Good to mix it up. So last week, Aubrey, we were getting into a brand new series with you and me talking about the Future Tense, is that right?

Exactly right.

If you guys missed that one, go check it out. Fifteen, twenty five. We started this series because natives aren't always formal with Future Tense.

We don't really use will very often or even going to.

Instead, we use really native phrases that are very specific to if you're talking about the immediate future or a little bit further away. So the last episode we talked about ones you would use for things that are happening right away, especially when you don't know the date, like, oh, it's going to happen any minute, but I don't know exactly when.

And today we're talking about the future.

That's just a little bit further away. Exactly. And you guys should go back. If you missed that one, for whatever reason, go back and listen to fifteen, twenty five, because we kind of showed you throughout the episode how important it is to use those wands when you're talking about, again, as Obree said, something you're not quite sure of when exactly it's going to happen. And today we're getting into something a little more solid around when things are going to happen, right?

Exactly right. These are for what we call the near future. So things that aren't as immediate but are still going to happen soon.

And some of these are perfect for when you do have a date and you have plans, then you can use these. Yeah, I love this.

And as we said in the last episode, changing up the way you talk about the future guys, especially getting away from well and going to is one of the biggest shortcuts or hacks that you could use to get to sound native really, really quickly.

Right. Obree, I love this idea.

Yeah, it's a really good point. Second, language learners have a tendency to use will over and over because they understand it.

They know the grammar is correct. Yes. But yeah, it's kind of boring and it's just as repetitive. Right.

It just doesn't sound natural. You know, there are certain things that flag you as a non-native speaker, guys, and that's one of them, right.

When you're always using well and going to especially Will is often used incorrectly, actually, because it is quite subtle. Right. Well, versus going to and we can get that another day, but it's kind of subtle and I hear a lot of mistakes with Will. So try these guys, try these out, have the confidence to try one of these. OK, yes.

So we're going to give you three phrases. Well, for today and exactly how to use them example sentences so that you can practice using these to sound more natural.

I love it. I love it. Let's dive in. I can't wait to hear what they are. So the first one, what is it, Aubrey?

So it's in the near future, which means very soon you might not know exactly when usually means like a few weeks or months in the future.

Yeah.

OK, awesome. Are you are you planning to add any members to your family, like furry friends?

No, I know I as an example. So we're planning to get a dog in the near future, but we're not.

Actually, I when I grew up and we had a lot of animals, but they were all outside and I can't get past that like pets should be outside, I'd feel like I can't get over it in my mind.

And in Arizona, it's much too hot for an animal to be outside all the time. We would have to you know, they would be in our home all the time. So my poor kids, because they would love to have a pet. Yeah. And you would be outside walking it all the time. So that be hard. That'd be really hard. But it is I have to say, it is so fun having a dog. I am a puppy on it for the first time.

And just on Sunday my puppy got to meet his two sisters from his litter.

Oh, that's awesome. It was so fun.

We got connected to the shelter, reconnected through Instagram and we arranged to meet at the dog park. And you could you could see their commonalities and how they run the same. They walk the same. It was so cute. That's adorable. This is a great phrasal, you guys.

You definitely need to practice using this. You'll hear natives say it all the time when they're talking about something that's coming up a few weeks, few months.

They don't know exactly when. If someone were to get a pet, they could say, oh, yeah, we're going to get one in the near future. And, you know, that means less than a year for sure.

A couple of months at the most. Yeah, I like to use this when it comes to talking about kind of vague goals somewhere, somewhere between specific and vague. Right. Goals that you want to accomplish. You know, in the near future, I hope to save more money for my retirement, for example. Something like that. Yeah, right. Right. I'm going to make a small change in the future. And you're intentional about it, showing your intention.

Exactly right.

But you haven't gotten to the point where you have nailed down the exact date and set like an OK are. Right.

Right. Objective. Key result. Yes, exactly. Aubrey, I love it.

OK, great. Let's see the next list. Yeah. OK, so this one, there are two here that are very similar. A sign of things to come or a taste of things to come.

You'll hear both of these they're using. To indicate how things are going to be in the future, often an experience that is likely to be repeated, so, for example, you might say, oh, so many people are losing their jobs, I feel like this is a sign of things to come.

It's a sign of things to come. Yeah, we could do a whole nother episode on just the word sign being used in sayings. Right. A sign of the time.

We use it a lot. Right. This one kind of has a bit of a negative connotation. I feel like when we say, oh, that's a sign of things to come, it doesn't usually mean good happy things. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Or a taste of things to come. Very similar, guys. Just a more artful way to say it, right. This is just a taste of things to come. Just a little sampling. And this could either be positive or negative, right? It could be either one. Would you say?

Yeah, for sure. Right. You might hear someone say that storm was a taste of things to come and, you know, there's going to be a bigger storm tomorrow or this appetizer is just a taste of things to come.

And, you know, you have a delicious meal waiting for you. Yeah.

If the appetizer is really, really good, then you know that something good is coming out for that.

Yeah, exactly right. Or you could say the fireworks at the start of this party were just a taste of things to come. If you're hosting a fun party and it's going to be amazing, right. You're letting them in. You're sort of foreshadowing amazing things coming by saying that was just a taste.

There's great things on the horizon coming very soon.

Exactly. So we use this to talk about, like, teasers. Right thing. Definitely a little taste. It got to come for the main event.

If you've already experienced this and you liked it. OK, so this next one, I really like it because we always used to count the days until summer. Right? We used counting count until summer vacation.

I'm sure you do the opposite, Obery. When it comes to being miserable and hot here, I count the days until school starts again. Right. That's what your grade. Yeah.

We can say either counting the days until or counting down the days until we use them both interchangeably and we use it, especially when you're anxiously awaiting a future event and you want it to happen sooner.

Oh my God. I remember the days of school. Right. As soon as you hit June when you're in elementary school, it's like, why are we even here? We're counting 19 days, 18 days. You just don't want to be there anyway.

You want to be curious, did you count down the days to summer more or countdown's school going back? I always counted down, going back to school. I was so excited for school to start again as a kid.

Do No, no, no. I was a summer grob. My birthday's in the summer. I love summertime. I like freedom. So I know I would kind of more dread.

I mean, I was happy to start a new year of school, but I would definitely be more excited about the end of school year.

That's getting I'd be curious for our listeners if it's the same for you guys. When you were a kid, did you look forward more to set like a summer break from school or getting back to school? I think a lot of kids do look forward to summer, but I did.

But I was so excited when school started again. That's cool. You got like a new outfit, get a new backpack with pencils or, you know, fresh notebooks.

That's so funny. I love it. I love it. You must have it. A really good student then. Like, I was a good student.

I loved school. I was very studious. It was fun for me.

And where I lived, I lived in a very rural area where our friends from school, we did not get to see in the summer because they lived too far or very rarely. So it was also a chance to be able to see friends again at school because we didn't really see them in the summer much.

That makes sense. So there are other benefits to start. Oh, sure. Just being right.

Are you can you count the days until anything else I was going to say?

You can also say like you're counting down the days until a trip. But if we talk all the time because we're like, so sad, we can't be traveling right now. So I don't have any trips.

I'm counting down the days until unfortunately, but I am counting the days until my daughter's birthday, which is very soon because I'm excited we're going to throw her a fun party.

And so, yeah, I'm counting down the days until that day. What about you for sure? Well, we're planning some trips for the spring that are going to be a little low profile, like very safe, like safer trips. We're planning to drive out, I think, like West Virginia and do some like hiking out there. Oh, the coast. And so I'm counting down the days to do a little trip. I just love traveling. I love road trips.

This is the year of the road trip. Twenty one, twenty twenty. So I'm counting down the days to just explore a little bit more.

Today we have Aubrey on the show and Aubrey will be hosting our next live business English Web class, along with Jessica on March 6th and 9th. Do you want more confidence at work? Do you want to get paid what you deserve? Do you want to get the projects that will actually help you move up in your industry? On this live Web class? You will learn how to ask for these things with our three step strategy. So go to all your English dot com forward slash promotion.

See you there.

You know what, I am counting down the days until I'm excited about this. We are going to do a business webcast, Jessica and I. Yeah.

So you guys, if you haven't heard about this yet, you need to go to all these English dotcom promotion. We're going to teach you everything you need to know to be successful at work and be able to get the promotion that you deserve.

Right, Lindsay? Yeah, this is awesome, guys.

I don't know of any other business, English Web class that would teach you something like this will give you the phrases, the vocabulary and the strategies and skills to do it because you want to keep moving up in your in your career and you want to do better at work. So these are skills you need. And Obree, where can our listeners go to sign up?

Yes, go to all English dotcom slash promotion. It's going to be March 6th and 9th and you do not want to miss it. It's not recorded. You have to attend live.

So we will see you there. Yeah. We don't record our web classes guys, so you have to show up. So mark your calendar. Get up at 2:00 in the morning if you have to.

You don't want to miss it. Right, exactly. We will do a role play. Yeah, let's do it, James. OK, I'll start.

This is funny because I wrote this one about you potentially going on a skiing trip. OK, but anyone who missed fifteen twenty five of Lindsay started talking about a skiing trip she's actually planning looking forward to and then we realized none of the phrases we taught you can really use for something you've planned.

So these you'll see how we fit them in this role play. These are perfect for when you're talking about a trip you've actually planned.

Right. Excellent.

So, Lindsey, do you have any fun plans for the near future?

Yes, definitely. Aubrey, we are going skiing in a couple weeks and I'm counting down the days until our trip.

Nice. Where do you usually go? Colorado has some great snow. Some of the best resorts in the world are about a 30 minute drive from my house. That's amazing.

I skied when I was younger, but I have not been in a very long time.

Why not? What I got in a really bad wreck, I was injured and it felt like a sign of things to come.

Oh, no. Is that true? Did you? Yes, I did. In college I was skiing and I sort of overcorrected and ended up going backwards down and I couldn't figure out how to I couldn't get myself stopped.

And I hit a snowmaking machine. Oh, my gosh. Just metal. And I cut my head. They had to, like, take me down the mountain in the toboggan. Oh, my gosh.

That is not funny at all to me of laughing. And I stopped laughing when I feel like I should not be laughing at this.

That's terrible. Why were you so what were the injury there? What were the extent of your injuries? It was it was luckily very minor, but it was a close call because they said it was like. Mm. From doing permanent brain damage where it got me, it was just above my ear.

Oh my gosh.

And so I was just very lucky, blessed that it wasn't worse.

But I was really scared all of my friends, because they, there was just a lot of blood in the snow is very stark. The red on white. Right. And so they had to take me out and I had blacked out.

So I don't even I kind of came to going down in the sled and they stitched me up. And luckily I was fine.

But it was definitely traumatic enough that I haven't skied since.

Absolutely. I probably wouldn't ski again either. That's terrifying. I mean, this must have been in the days before helmets.

So there were no helmets. Yeah, must have been like in the nineties or early 2000s. Yeah. Yeah. So helmets came in to style somewhere in the mid 2000s. Now everyone just wears a helmet when they ski which helps. Yeah but when I was a kid, tweezer ski and hats and I can't believe we did it, it was like what did. Because I also hit a tree on skis when I was a teenager. You did. And I hit on my head.

Yes. But haven't, you know, just I just got up and I was OK, but it could have been so much worse.

Yes, I know there are a lot of fatalities skiing. It can be really dangerous. Definitely the helmets help. I know I should try again and just wear a helmet, but now I don't live anywhere near snow, so it has to be a destination for me to go further to get to the snow.

Yeah, you're in a warm place. Warm place for sure.

Yeah. So let's go through all of the ones that we used. Right. So I asked you if you have plans for the near future, you know, and this is a fun way of instead of saying like, oh, do you have any planned plans coming up? Use that phrase for the near future. It's a fun one, right?

Just mix it up a little bit. And then I said, yes, we're going skiing in a couple of weeks and I'm counting the days until our trip. And I also could have said I'm counting down the days. Right, exactly. Where listeners before guys.

Yeah, yeah. They work perfectly. Right. And then so I was saying I haven't been skiing in a long time. You asked why not? And I said I wrecked and it felt like a sign of things to come. So this is what we're saying. It's sort of foreboding, something terrible that'll happen again. I was like I just knew that I would get hurt again.

Yeah. So you just stopped. Yeah. Impending doom. Right.

So these are really useful, as you guys know. Like this was something that's planned, right. A ski trip is planned. We know what is happening.

These are the phrases you use when you talk. About that guy. Yes. So what's the takeaway for our listeners today, Aubrey? So like we were saying, you know, just try to avoid using Will and even, you know, going to as often use some of these great native phrases, whether you're talking about the immediate future or the near future.

Start listening for these. You're going to hear natives using them all the time.

You're going to hear them on TV and movies.

You'll see them in books. Look at how they're used and start practicing them, because these do make you sound so much more native and natural.

Yeah, I love it. And that is the key to connection right there. Guys try to sound as natural as you possibly can so you can build those connections that you want. Don't keep saying things from the textbook over and over and over again.

So look into yourself. Think do I use. Well, too much probably.

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