Shadowing Practice: You Only Need 5 Tenses to Speak English Confidently (Not 12!) - Learn English Speaking with YouTube
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Making English Easy for Everyone.
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Making English Easy for Everyone.
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Speak English with Jay and May.
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Hey English learners!
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Welcome back to Speak English with Jay and May,
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your cozy little place to build your English confidence.
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I'm May.
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Hello, May, and hello everyone!
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I'm Jay.
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How are you today, May?
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I'm doing great, Jay.
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Actually, I'm a little excited today because our topic is something I wish someone had told me years ago.
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Oh yeah?
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What is it?
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OK, so English has like, what, 12 tenses?
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Maybe more.
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Twelve?
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I think I counted like 16 once in a grammar book.
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I almost cried.
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Right?
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And you know what's funny?
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Native speakers, people who grew up speaking English their whole lives,
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most of them only use five tenses in daily conversation.
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Wait, only five?
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Only five.
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And today, we're going to tell you exactly which five they are and how to use them naturally.
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OK, I need this.
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I seriously need this, because every time I open a grammar book,
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I see things like, future perfect continuous,
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and I just close the book.
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Future perfect continuous.
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You know, I had a student once who studied that tense for two weeks.
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Two whole weeks.
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And then she went to a coffee shop in New York,
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and the barista said, what do you want?
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And she completely froze.
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No way!
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Yes!
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Because she was so busy studying complicated tenses,
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she forgot the simple ones.
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She didn't know how to say,
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I want a coffee, please.
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That is painful.
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That is so relatable.
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So today, no pain.
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Only the five tenses that will actually get you through real conversations,
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job interviews, travel, friendships, everything.
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I love it.
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Let's go.
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What's the first one?
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Okay.
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Number one, and this is the most important one.
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Simple present.
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Things you do regularly.
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Facts.
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Habits.
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Routines.
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Like, I drink coffee every morning.
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Exactly.
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Or, she works at a hospital.
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Or, water boils at 100 degrees.
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Simple, clean, powerful.
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You mean like, this is the tense I use when I talk about my life?
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Yes.
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Think about it.
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When someone asks, what do you do?
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Or, where do you live?
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You answer in simple present.
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It's the tense of your identity.
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Oh wow, I never thought of it that way.
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The tense of your identity.
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That's cool.
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And here's a little mistake I hear all the time.
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People say, I am study English.
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But the correct form is, I study English.
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No am needed there.
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Oh yeah, I think I've made that mistake before.
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More than once.
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It's super common.
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Don't worry.
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The rule is simple.
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For habits and facts, just use the base verb.
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I eat, she eats, they eat.
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Got it.
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So simple present is tense number one.
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What's number two?
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Number two, present continuous.
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This is what's happening right now or around this time in your life.
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Okay, like, I am learning English right now.
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Perfect example.
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Or, she is sleeping.
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Or, they are building a new school in my neighborhood.
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It's action that is in progress.
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Wait, so what's the difference?
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Like, when do I use simple present and when do I use present continuous?
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Great question.
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Okay, imagine your friend calls you and says, What do you do? versus What are you doing?
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Oh, what do you do means my job,
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and what are you doing right now, this second?
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Exactly.
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I teach English, that's my job, simple present.
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I am teaching a class right now,
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that's happening at this moment, present continuous.
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That is such a clear way to explain it.
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I feel like I finally get that.
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And here's the interesting part.
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Present continuous also works for future plans,
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like, I am meeting my friend tomorrow.
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Wait, that's future, but you use am meeting?
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Yes.
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When the plan is already arranged,
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already decided, native speakers use present continuous.
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I'm flying to Tokyo next week.
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We're having dinner tonight.
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Wow, so one-tenth does two jobs.
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Two jobs.
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Very efficient.
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Okay, okay.
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So we have simple present and present continuous.
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What's tense number three?
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Number three, simple past.
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And this one, Jay, this one is the storyteller's best friend.
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The storyteller's best friend.
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I like that.
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Any time you're telling something that already happened yesterday,
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last week, when you were a child,
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simple past is your tense.
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Like, I went to the market yesterday.
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Yes.
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She called me last night.
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We had a great time at the party.
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Done.
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Finished.
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In the past.
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But this is where irregular verbs make me crazy.
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Like go becomes went.
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Come becomes came.
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Why can't it just be goad?
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Oh, I feel you.
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You know, I used to tell my students irregular verbs are like old family members.
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They have their own rules and you just have to learn their names.
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That's actually a really funny way to think about it.
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But honestly, the most common irregular verbs,
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go, come, eat, see, buy,
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make, and take, if you learn just those,
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you can tell like 90% of your stories.
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That's so reassuring.
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So I don't need to memorize all irregular verbs.
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Not all at once.
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Start with the most common ones and add more slowly.
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Language learning is a journey, not a race.
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Okay, I love that.
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Tense number three, simple past.
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What's four?
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Okay, number four, and this one changes everything for sounding more natural, present perfect.
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Ooh, okay, I know this one is tricky.
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Have plus something.
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Yes.
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Have or has plus the past participle.
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Like, I have visited Paris.
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She has eaten sushi before.
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We have watched that movie.
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You mean like, it happened before,
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but I don't say exactly when?
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That's the key.
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When the exact time doesn't matter,
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or when the experience is connected to now, you use present perfect.
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It's like a bridge between the past and the present.
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A bridge.
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Okay, that's a great way to see it.
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So, think about this.
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If someone asks, have you ever tried Korean food?
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They don't care if it was last Tuesday or five years ago.
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They just want to know your experience.
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Ah, so I say, yes,
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I have tried it, not,
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yes, I tried it last year.
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Exactly.
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Unless you want to say when,
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then you switch to simple past.
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I tried it last year when I visited Seoul.
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Wait, here's the interesting part.
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So I use present perfect to talk about the experience and then simple past when I add the time detail?
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You just explained it perfectly.
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I'm so proud right now.
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I'm proud of myself too.
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And Present Perfect is also great for recent news.
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The president has announced a new policy.
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Scientists have discovered something amazing.
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It happened recently and it's still relevant.
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Oh, that's why news articles always sound like that.
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The company has released a new product.
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I always wondered why they write it that way.
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Now you know.
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Present Perfect makes it feel fresh and connected to today.
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This is so good.
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Okay, number five, last one.
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Number five, simple future with will.
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This is your go-to for predictions,
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decisions made in the moment, and promises.
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Like, I will call you later?
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Exactly.
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Or, it will rain tomorrow.
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Don't worry, I will help you.
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Clean, simple, direct.
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So, this is different from present continuous future, right?
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Like, I'm meeting my friend tomorrow.
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That was already planned.
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But, I will is more spontaneous?
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Oh, wow, yeah, you're getting it.
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I'm meeting my friend tomorrow.
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That was planned in advance.
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I will meet you there,
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decided right now, in this moment.
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Can you give me a quick example of both so I can really feel the difference?
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Sure.
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Imagine your phone rings and your friend says,
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Can you help me move boxes this weekend?
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You think for one second and say,
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Sure, I will help you.
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That's a spontaneous decision, so you use will.
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And if I already knew about it before the call?
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Then you'd say, yes, I'm helping you this weekend,
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because it was already arranged.
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This is where things change for me.
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I used will for everything before.
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I didn't know there were two ways to talk about the future.
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Most learners do that.
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And honestly, using will for everything is not a disaster.
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People will still understand you.
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But once you know both,
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you sound so much more natural.
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Okay, so let's do a quick review.
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Can you run through all five super fast?
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Absolutely.
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Number one, simple present.
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I drink coffee every day.
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Number two, present continuous.
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I am drinking coffee right now.
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Number three, simple past.
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I drank coffee this morning.
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Number four, present perfect, I have never drunk black coffee before.
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Number five, simple future, I will drink coffee after this podcast.
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I love that you used coffee for all five.
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I was thirsty, what can I say?
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Okay, listeners, I want you to imagine something.
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Imagine you're at a party and someone asks,
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oh, so you speak English?
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What do you say?
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And now, with these five tenses,
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you can say, Yes, I study English every day.
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Right now, I am working on my grammar.
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I started two years ago.
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I have made a lot of progress.
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And one day, I will speak English like a native.
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Amazing!
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Five tenses.
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One powerful answer.
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That's the goal.
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Not to impress people with complicated grammar,
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just to communicate clearly and confidently.
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You know, what I think is the biggest takeaway here,
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it's that you don't need all the tenses to speak well.
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You just need to master the right ones.
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Exactly.
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And these five cover probably 95% of real conversations.
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Work, travel, friendships, stories, plans, all of it.
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To be honest, I feel a little embarrassed that I spent so much time worrying about tenses I never even use.
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Don't be embarrassed.
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That's the trap of traditional grammar books.
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They want to be complete.
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But speaking?
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Speaking wants to be useful.
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Complete versus useful.
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I'm writing that down.
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Good.
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OK, let's do our vocabulary moment.
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Yes, I love this part.
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Alright, five phrases we used today that are super useful in real life.
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Ready?
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Ready.
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Phrase number one, go-to.
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I said simple future with will is your go-to.
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Go-to means your first choice,
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the thing you always use or rely on.
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Like, pizza is my go-to food when I'm tired.
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Easy, comfortable choice.
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Perfect.
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Phrase two, in progress.
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I said present continuous means action in progress.
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It means something is happening and not finished yet.
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Like, the construction is in progress.
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The building isn't done yet.
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Great example.
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Phrase three, a bridge between.
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I said present perfect is a bridge between the past and the present.
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A bridge connects two things.
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You mean like it links two ideas together,
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like that experience was a bridge between my old life and my new one.
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Beautiful sentence.
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I love that.
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Phrase 4.
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Spontaneous.
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A spontaneous decision is one you make quickly, without planning.
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Like, we made a spontaneous trip to the beach,
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no planning, just grabbed our bags and went.
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That sounds like a great day.
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And phrase five, go through.
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Actually, I used go through earlier.
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What tense do I go through?
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To go through something means to experience it or to move through a process.
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Like, I went through a lot of mistakes before my English improved.
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That's so real.
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Very real and very normal.
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Every learner goes through that.
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Okay.
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I feel like this episode was a game changer, like genuinely.
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I hope so.
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And you know what I want to say to everyone listening right now?
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Don't be afraid of making mistakes with tenses.
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The goal isn't perfect grammar.
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The goal is connection.
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Connection.
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That's beautiful.
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Because language is really about connecting with people, right?
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Exactly.
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When you speak, people are listening to you,
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your story, your ideas, your personality, not your tenses.
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Okay, I have one final question for our listeners before we close,
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and this is a fun one.
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Ooh, let's hear it!
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Using any of the five tenses we talked about today,
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can you write one sentence about yourself?
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Like I study English because… or I have always wanted to… or I will never stop.
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Oh, I love this!
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Drop your sentence in the comments.
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We want to read every single one.
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Honestly, even if it has a mistake, share it.
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That's how you learn.
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We are all here to grow together.
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And hey, if this episode helped you today,
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do us a little favor.
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Hit that subscribe button.
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We make a new episode every single day,
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and we don't want you to miss any of them.
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Every day.
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That's right.
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We're here for you every single day on your English journey.
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Because building confidence takes practice,
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and we want to be part of that practice.
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Alright everyone, thank you so much for spending this time with us today.
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You're amazing for showing up.
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You really are.
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Keep going, keep speaking, and remember,
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every sentence you say in English is a win.
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See you tomorrow!
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See you tomorrow, English learners.
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Take care.
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Context & Background
In the informative YouTube video titled "You Only Need 5 Tenses to Speak English Confidently (Not 12!)," the hosts May and Jay share practical insights aimed at simplifying English learning. They emphasize that while textbooks may overwhelm learners with numerous tenses, native speakers rely on just five tenses for everyday communication. This video is designed to help learners navigate through the complexities of English grammar, enabling them to engage effectively in conversations, job interviews, and social interactions.
Top 5 Phrases for Daily Communication
- Present Simple: "I drink coffee every morning."
- Past Simple: "I visited my friend last week."
- Future Simple: "I will go to the market tomorrow."
- Present Continuous: "I am studying English now."
- Past Continuous: "I was working when you called."
These five tenses are essential for effective communication. Focusing on these structures can help you navigate conversations with confidence and clarity. Remember, using simple and clear expressions is often more powerful than complicating your speech with lesser-used tenses.
Step-by-step Shadowing Guide
If you're looking to improve your English speaking skills and pronunciation, shadowing can be an effective technique. Follow this step-by-step guide to utilize shadow speech inspired by May and Jay’s discussion:
- Select a Shadowing Site: Find a platform with quality English videos or audio where native speakers converse using various tenses.
- Listen Actively: Start by listening to the conversation in the video. Pay attention to the usage of the five tenses highlighted earlier.
- Repeat in Real-Time: With a shadowing app, practice repeating phrases as they are spoken, mimicking the intonation and pronunciation of the speakers.
- Record Yourself: After shadowing, record your speech to compare your pronunciation and fluency with the original audio.
- Review and Practice: Regularly revisit the content, gradually increasing the speed as you gain confidence. Consistent practice will enhance your communication skills.
This targeted approach will help you internalize the essential tenses and improve your English speaking practice, paving the way for more engaging and natural interactions. Remember that mastering the basics will equip you better for real-life situations.
What is the Shadowing Technique?
Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.
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