Speaker 1: Have you ever studied will and be going to and thought, yeah, okay,
I understand the rule, but I still don't know which
one to use when I speak. Maybe your textbook says
something like use will for the future and use be
going to for plans. Technically that's correct, but in real
conversations and depending on the situation, we naturally choose will
or gonna. For today's Podcast English Lesson, we're going to
look at several practical situations where you can use will
or going to, you know, gonna in everyday conversational English.
Speaker 2: Welcome to another Happy English podcast coming to you from
New York City, and here's your English teacher, Michael.
Speaker 1: All right, thank you John, and thanks everyone. It's Michael
here from Happy English and I help people speak English better.
And this is Happy English Podcast Episode Oney eighteen Practical
uses of will and gonna in every day English. Let's
start with will. There are a number of ways you
can use will, and one common situation is when you
make a decision at the moment of speaking. For example,
imagine you're at home and the doorbell rings. You look
at the door and say, I'll get it. You just
decided at that moment to answer the door, or maybe
you're having dinner with your family and someone says, oh,
we're out of drinks, you might say, no worries, I'll
run to the convenience store. Or like at work, if
the boss says, oh, can someone get the remote control
from the meeting room, you can reply with, yeah, sure,
I'll get it. That decision wasn't planned before you decided
right then. So when we make a quick decision in
the moment, we usually use will. We also use will
when we make promises. For example, maybe you're talking to
a friend and they say, don't forget to call me later.
You might say, oh, don't worry, I'll call you. Or
a parent may say to their child, I'll be there
at five, I promise. In these situations, will shows commitment,
you know, like in those old romantic movies where the
hero says, oh, darling, I will love you forever. It
has the feeling of that's a promise from my heart.
You can trust me. And here's another very natural way
we use will in everyday conversation. When we don't have
a fixed plan yet and we're kind of thinking out loud,
we often say things like maybe I will or I
think i'll For example, imagine a friend asks you, so,
what are you doing this weekend, and you haven't really
decided yet. You might say, I don't know. Maybe I'll
just chill it home, or I think I'll do some
work in the garden. In these situations, you're not talking
about a clear plan. You're just sharing an idea or
a possible decision in the moment. So phrases like maybe
i'll and I think i'll are very common when you're
thinking about the future but you haven't made a firm
decision yet. Now, let's look at gunna, which is the casual,
dual spoken form of going to Native speakers use gunna
all the time in conversation, and we use gonna when
we talk about plans that we've already decided before speaking.
Like imagine you're talking to a friend about your evening.
You might say, I'm gonna go to the gym after work.
That plan already exists in your mind. Or maybe someone
asks about your weekend plans, you might say, oh, we're
gonna visit my parents this weekend. So gonna is very
common when talking about planned actions. Another important use of
will and gonna is for hopes, guessing, and predictions, and
this is where things get really interesting. We use will
for hopes and guesses about the future. This happens a
lot when we talk about the weather, Like on a
rainy morning, you might say, I really hope the rain
will stop soon. I really want to go to the beach.
That's just a hope. But we use gonna when we
see evidence right now. Like imagine you look outside and
you see dark clouds in strong wind. You might say, Ooh,
it looks like it's gonna rain. In that situation, you're
not just guessing or hoping, You're reacting to what you see.
So will is often used for hopes or guesses, and
gonna is often used for predictions based on present evidence.
And keep one thing in mind. About going to In
everyday conversation, Native speakers almost always pronounce it as gonna,
not going to. Instead of saying I am going to
call her tonight, most people say I'm gonna call her tonight.
It's faster, smoother, and much more natural in casual speech,
but in writing or more formal situations, we usually use
going to. This is a key difference between spoken and
written English. So let's recap In everyday conversational English, we
use will for decisions we make in the moment, reactions
and promises I'll get it, i'll help you, I'll call
you later, And we use gunna for plans that we
decided before speaking, I'm gonna go to the gym tonight,
or we're gonna visit my parents. When it comes to predictions,
we often use will for guessing and hopes like I
really hope the rainal stop, and gonna for predictions on
what we see, like wow, look at those clouds, it
looks like it's gonna rain. And remember, gunna is very
common in spoken English, while going to is more common
in writing or formal situations. So here's your challenge this week.
Pay attention to how people use will and gunna in conversations, movies,
or TV shows. Notice when people say I'll do it
versus I'm gonna do it, and try using both in
your own conversations. And think about whether you're making a
decision in the moment or talking about a plan. And
keep in mind the best way to remember English like
this and any other word or phrase in English is
to take that word or phrase write it in a
sentence that's true for you or true in your world,
and then memorize your sentences. Hey, thanks for listening, and remember,
learning another language is not easy, but it's not impossible,
and I'm here to help you on your journey.
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