Speaker 1: Did you ever notice that when you talk about your
plans in English you use the same phrase again and again.
Maybe you say things like I'm going to do this,
I'm going to go there, I'm going to improve my English.
Those sentences are all totally fine, no problem at all.
But Native speakers don't only use be going to when
they talk about their future plans. We also use phrases
like want to, plan to, hope to, and even intend to,
and each one sounds a little different. So today, let's
look at five common ways to talk about plans and
intentions in English and how Native speakers really use them
in everyday conversation.
Speaker 2: Welcome to another Happy English podcast, coming to you from
New York City, and here's your English teacher.
Speaker 1: My alright, thank you John In. Thanks everyone. It's Michael
here from Happy English and I help people speak English better.
And this is Happy English Podcast, Episode nine seventy one,
talking about plans and intentions in English. Today we'll look
at five ways to talk about the future and the
difference in meaning and nuance between them. Let's start with
want to. Want to is the most basic and the
most direct way to talk about intention. We use it
to talk about things we desire or we feel like doing,
and keep in mind, we generally pronounce want to as wanna.
Like if someone asks what do you want to do
this weekend, you might say I just want to relax
and catch up on some sleep, or when talking about
a bigger goal, you might say, this year, I really
want to improve my English. So want to or wanna
is natural and common, but it mainly shows desire, not commitment.
You want to do it, but that doesn't always mean
you've made a real plan, and that brings us to
plan to. Plan to sounds more organized and intentional than
want to. When you use plan to, it usually means
you've already thought about the details, Like if your coworker
asks are you taking a vacation this year, you might
say something like yeah, I'm planning to take a trip
in October, Or if your coworker says, hey, what are
you doing after work, you might say, I'm planning to
meet a friend for dinner. Now, let's look at be
going to be going to, and it's spoken form. Gonna
is extremely common in everyday English conversation. We use be
going to when a plan is decided or already set. Again,
if your coworker asks what are you doing tonight? You
might say I'm going to stay home, or more naturally,
I'm gonna stay home tonight, or when you've made a
firm decision, you can say I'm gonna start studying in
the mornings from now on. When you're gonna do something,
the decision has already been made. Next, let's talk about
hope to. Hope to is different from the others. When
you say hope to, you're talking about a goal, but
one that isn't completely in your control. It sounds positive
but not certain. For example, imagine someone asks you about
your English study. You've been studying, but you know life
gets busy. You might say, I hope to improve my
English this year. That sounds honest and realistic. You're not
promise anything, You're just expressing a goal. Here's another example
from work. Let's say you had a job interview and
now you're waiting, and so a friend says, hey, have
you heard back yet. You might answer not yet, I
hope to hear back from them by Friday. So hope
to sounds polite, positive and realistic. It shows optimism without
making a promise. And finally, let's look at intend to.
Intend to is more formal and more deliberate than the
other phrases. You'll hear intend to informal situations, like in
business situations and in the news. For example, at a
company meeting, the CEO might say, we intend to expand
our operations next year into several new markets. Or during
an election season, a politician might say, I intend to
make lowering taxes my number one priority. How many times
have you heard that one? Now here's the key point
when it comes to intend to. I'd say native speakers
probably hear it a lot more than we actually use it,
So intend to is useful, but it's not very conversation. Okay,
let's do a quick comparison, talking about the same goal
learning English. I want to improve my English. This show's desire.
I plan to study every morning. This shows intention and preparation.
I'm going to start a new English course next month.
This shows I have a set decision. I hope to
be fluent someday. This one shows a goal but also uncertainty,
and I intend to continue my studies. This is more
formal and deliberate, same idea different tone. Before we wrap up,
let me ask you something. What's something you want to
do soon, what's something you plan to do this month?
What are you going to do this weekend, what's something
you hope to achieve this year? And is there anything
you intend to do? Try answering those out loud. That's
how you build real fluency. And remember 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. That's
how you build fluency. 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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