Improve your English Grammar in One Hour | Basic English Grammar

hey guys welcome to a very very very important class today we're going to talk about grammar I know it is your favorite topic and this is why we're going to start with prepositions then we're going to talk about some basic grammar rules and of course we're going to talk about articles is it ah or is it the we're going to talk about that and we're going to wrap up this class by talking about tenses in English so if you're learning English this class is for you let's start when I first arrived in the US I

was super confused about some prepositions like am I at the farmer's market or in the farmer's market my billboard was on Times Square or in Times Square I am at the hotel or I'm in the hotel these prepositions are very confusing but first of all whichever preposition you decide to use native speakers are going to understand you no one's going to tell you no no this is the wrong preposition like if you're talking to Native speak Acres normally no one would tell you that something is wrong but if you're taking a test yes this is

where problems might start because this is where you will get lower points if you make mistakes so let's start with prepositions in English okay let's start with at versus in the rule that you have to remember in is used with major big things like countries cities continents I was born in Europe well St Petersburg is kind of Eastern Europe I consider it Europe he was born in Italy he was born in Rome I was born in Liverpool in a railroad switch house we use at with smaller insignificant kind of places so I'm at the farmer's

market because Farmers Market is relatively small same with buildings I'm at the airport I'm gonna meet you at the restaurant with small insignificant things we're using at work at the University Stadium security guard the next set of rules is regarding all versus all of so we use all of when we have pronouns pronouns are us they them me you those are all pronouns so we say all of us are going to Malibu next week all of them have completed their TOEFL test so whenever it's a prona we have Olive all of me however in all

other cases we have all all the people are forced to stay at home all the students have to wear masks all the children need to stay at home all the gods All The Heavens by the way guys if you're looking for a manual or like a book for grammar my team and I have created a grammar book with all the necessary rules that you need we have prepositions we have tenses we have conditionals oh my God I hate conditionals what would have happened if he had to come five minutes earlier like all of those Clauses

and consequences all of that is explained in a very simple manner it's a very very visual grammar book that you can use every single day when you are doing something in English when you have this question oh my God what do I use here our grammar book would be there to help you moreover if you want more practice we have a special practice exercise book created specifically for this grammar book so you can read the topic on a specific grammar Rule and then practice that grammar rule it's a very affordable manual created by me and

my team it's brand new it's fresh no old-fashioned words no old-fashioned rules I use it all the time with my students when I'm creating different classes the link will be below please make sure to download it print it out or you can use a PDF on your computer or your iPad I by the way love using iPad Pro where you can buy things inside the PDF with a pen but it's up to you whatever you have at home or just print it out and have it on your desk at all times because this is something

you can consult when you have any questions regarding grammar again the link will be below thank you so much for downloading it and it would really help you go through my videos as well the next section in versus on versus at when we're talking about time so when we talk about General measurements like I'll be there in two minutes I'll see you in two days we're gonna travel abroad into months so this in is used with general measurements I'll be there in 20 minutes however when we have a specific date and time we use on

and at I will see you on Monday at 12 pm the classes start on September 21st I'll go now if I may we'll see you on Friday and remember that in is also used with a year I was born in 1990. he will come back in 2025. that was in 1994. beside versus besides so beside is a preposition that that means nearby we work camping beside the river we were camping on the shore right we're really close to the river and we're camping there beside the white chickens besides as an adverb and preposition that means

in addition to besides we need your support in this Venture so this is something you would start your sentence with besides two suitcases I'm taking three boxes with me so it means in addition to my boxes I'm taking my suitcases you mean besides my marriage among versus between a monk is used when you have a group of objects or people usually three or more she is very popular among her classmates she's a very popular girl right I can choose among all your t-shirts you have like 30 in your closet oh my God among our homes

between is when you have two objects I can't decide between going to the cinema and staying at home between us on versus upon they're actually interchangeable you can use both but a pawn is really formal and old-fashioned remember this once upon a time there was this little girl who lived in the forest blah blah all the fairy tales will start like that put your book on a table we would usually just use on in this context two versus then there are several words that can only be followed by two and these words are senior Junior

prefer prior Superior inferior preferable he is senior to me in service right we're using two I prefer coffee to tea I like coffee more he is superior to me in terms of grades which means he's higher than me is Matthew Superior to me so with these we used to in other cases we used them he's better than me she's more beautiful than me Etc you're no better than he is in versus into we use in when we have a person an animal or an object located in a location I was sitting in the classroom he

was in the house when the policeman came here he is in your office we use into in a sense of coming toward something he he came into my office so he was kind of entering a closed space and he was moving toward me so he came into my office we're driving into garage so this is this movement inside then we use into came into the store for versus since four measures a period since Marks the start date I've been vlogging for five years already I've been blogging since 2014. it's actually six I've been following lingua

Marina wow this is a great example for you to practice write this down below two sentences I've been following lingual Marina for two years I've been following lingual Marina since 2018 when I first saw her video about TOEFL by the way guys let me know when did you first start watching me and why what was that video that grabbed your attention and made you subscribe and made you follow me this would be really useful for my future videos because I would make sure I produce more content that attracts people's attention please comment down below and

thank you so much for doing that and thank you so much for practicing your English down in comments below agree with versus agree too agree with is used for agreement with a person I agree with you we need to practice English daily I agree with our president that we need to support our economy I agree with Dinesh read two is used for agreement to a plan proposal or idea I agree to your proposal let's start a company together I agree to your idea to share this video with all of my friends you'll agree to anything

now let's talk about two versus four the first thing that we're gonna do we're going to talk about when we use two the first case when we used to is when we're talking about a destination I am going to Germany to Germany at the end of April I'm going to Munich by the way or there is another example we are going to a restaurant tonight to a restaurant because this is a direction I'm not going to back out of that I want to go to Spain second case if we're talking about time and if we're

talking in British English what they love to say it's a quarter to two which means 145. like Americans well I've never heard Americans sink quarter to two or Twenty to two and uh when I first heard in Great Britain I was a little confused but they say that a lot it's quarter to two Americans would say it's 1 45 because squatter is 15 minutes and there is a second case of using two with time for example the restaurant is open from Monday to Friday so we can kind of replace two with until and this is

another way to use it so for example the address is open until 5 PM or the restaurant is open from 9am to 5 PM and this is when we use two but I do Monday Wednesday Friday from seven to nine when we compare something I prefer traveling to sitting at home I prefer sleeping to working I prefer watching Marina's videos to uh setting by myself I prefer metaphysics to theology the next type of use is when we're talking about a receiver of an action I gave my book to my follower I sent a letter to

my friend I wrote an email to my colleague can you give it to me and last but not the least when you want to express a reason for your action for example I came here to see you I did it to make more money I've started learning English to get a job promotion so we're explaining why we've started doing something and this is when we use two I came to see you now let's move on to talking about four you see what I've just used let's move on to talking because what it is this is

our direction we're moving to the next section of our class we're talking about four now when we talk about benefits we use four so for example you're doing something for your health or for the benefit of be a parent I bought a gift for my friend I stopped eating gluten for the benefit of my health am I even get for my health four also indicates periods of times I've been living in the U.S for four years I've been learning English for several months now I've been watching lingua Marina channel for over two years and I

love her content she's amazing she's the best influencer out there oh you are being modest also when we talk about schedule we use four I made an appointment with my doctor for March 13th March 13th is my birthday I'd rather reschedule it for March 14th your flight is scheduled for May 31st again we're talking about schedule a hearing is scheduled for today we also use four to express a reason he was fired from job for being constantly late he has been late so many times and he's been fired for that or she's been promoted for

her good English because her English reached a certain level and she qualified for a promotion and we also use four to express a purpose of something Marina creates videos for improving your English you watch my videos for improving your language travel a lot for works there are also cases when two and four can be both used let's talk about some examples so I can illustrate this better let's compare two examples he's studying English for work he is studying English to be able to talk to his American friends so what we'll notice here is that we

use four with a noun he learns English for fun he learns English will work he learns English for his master's degree but when we have a verb we say to he learns English to talk to his friends in the U.S he learns English to get a job promotion he learns English to study abroad see the difference now let's move on to another example when both 2 and 4 can be used my friend brought lunch to me my friend brought lunch for me now both are correct but they have slightly different meanings my friend brought lunch

to me we're talking about Direction he brought lunch to my apartment put it on my table and I started eating but when we say my friend bought lunch for me we really want to emphasize that he's doing something nice for me he thought about me when he was getting lunch so he got one for me apologize can be used with both two and four because you apologize for something for something that you've done I apologize for breaking your cup I apologize for this video being too short but you apologize to someone I apologize to you

for this video being too short I apologize to my friend for forgetting about her birthday I apologize for the language apologize to you travel to and travel 4. I travel to Russia I traveled to Paris I traveled to Germany but I travel for work I travel to Russia for lingua Fest which is a festival Bowman Company I traveled to Germany for meetings you see so four is for the reason two is for the destination because you must travel to France immediately and put that directly into the hands of the king and him alone men can

travel for work families unite wait for all wait two wait for someone or something I'm waiting for the concert tonight I am waiting for my dad to come and visit us in California but you wait to do something I cannot wait to see my family in Russia or I cannot wait to travel this summer I cannot wait to show you this when we use ask we normally use for ask for something can I ask you for a cup of tea please uh can I ask you for a favor don't ask for permission ask for forgiveness

when we talk about belonging we normally say two it belongs to me it belongs to you and never belongs for so don't say that she belonged to me when we say care we care for somebody I care for my dog I care for Alex I care for my family you care for him and the last but not the least when we're saying prepare we always say prepare for something I will need to prepare for the festival let's do a quick quiz he lives 13 Long Street and you have to select either in on or at

I'm visiting my grandma on and at a hospital I like traveling too and at a train now you're gonna get the right answers at the end of this video but make sure you write your answers down so you can check yourself later now let's talk about some rules the first rule is when we use at at is used with a very exact place think small building like something that is small you would always use at at the door at the hospital at school at the University at the table at the door so something specific would

always be at but when you're thinking about big things like I don't know Panama or Guatemala or St Petersburg or London you would never say at because at only applies to smaller things and London Panama Guatemala those huge geographical locations so you can be at London you're in London in London yeah but I'm at the desk I'm at home I'm at my studio I am at the bus stop Etc at this University it the door that's cool we use on with streets and avenues I live on Park Avenue on North Avenue I live on Green

Street so on is always with the street but please remember there are always exceptions like if you're talking about University and you're talking about campus you say I live on campus on campus campus is this location where you have your dorms you have your classes you have your restaurants cafeterias Etc so on campus would be an exception but normally on is only used with streets now when we're talking about the street there is another thing to remember when we have a number then we use add I live at 13 Green Street at 45 Dunston street

but when we don't have a number like I'm asking where are you right now and you're answering I'm a Market Street you don't give me a number and the news on on Green Street so at is used when we give the full address Street number Etc on is when we just mentioned the stream and when we talk about something bigger than the street we use the preposition in so for example you have different parts of town we are having lunch in Chinatown or we are having lunch and Nob Hill this is like a district here

in San Francisco with cities as I already mentioned I live in London I live in London I live in New York 11 New York we have been in New York for two weeks we are in Los Altos Hills with States I live in California I live in California with parts of countries my friends spent vacation in the south of India with countries I used to live in Russia in Russia with continents my sister is in Africa I love being in Africa so to sum things up we use at with specific locations on with less specific

locations like streets and in with bigger locations like cities towns countries parts of countries if you're already feeling overwhelmed with what's going on and we haven't yet started the most interesting part of the video where I'm going to explain more things about prepositions I would highly recommend a book called grammar is all you need it is produced by my company called lingual trip by certified teachers this is a handbook that covers all the necessary Topics in English grammar and it has a chapter on prepositions it has chapter intenses chapter on grammar rules and it's not

just rules we all get bored by those boring textbooks in this book just like in all of my videos we try to come up with different life hacks so you could understand everything better and also it's not just you reading the material we have included a lot of exercises so you could practice things because with grammar it's like if you just watch this video and you switch it off and you don't practice it just goes away like well there is something in the back of your mind but it really goes away and because you're watching

this video first of all you're getting 66 percent off of this workbook and second you get a free chapter on prepositions because I really want you to remember these prepositions that we learned so if you follow a link below you're going to be able to receive a free chapter and 66 off the grammar is all you need workbook this workbook has 16 chapters on the most important topics of the English grammar done by my company done by lingua trip with love with fashion for you guys with passion for English again the link is in description

below 66 off and free chapter on English prepositions something that we cover in this video so you could practice so you can print it out put it on your desk and never ever forget what's the right way to use prepositions in English the link is below now let's move a little further with our prepositions I gave you some basic rules but now we're gonna explore more examples in is also used when we are talking about an enclosed space something that has a roof something that has walls in a car in a box in a building

I am waiting for you in my car they're in a car can you please help me find a pen in this box in a box don't put your wallet in a pocket now listen carefully right now we're moving to on and uh we use on with a bus on a bus and you might ask Marina but why in a car but on a bus wait a minute I'm gonna explain the other words that we use on with are words that represent surface like this table is a surface on a table your floor is a surface

on the floor wall behind me is also surface on the wall we also use on one with talk about left and right on the left on the right oh vice versa depending on whatever you see I think it's on the left foot you're on the right for for you next two or along the side of a river for example Cambridge is on the River cam now interesting fart why in a car but on a bus and it's used with means of transportation where you can't stand up oh my God English you're so complicated so you

can stand up in the car so you say in a car you can't stand up in a helicopter but you can stand up on an airplane so on an airplane in a helicopter on a bus in a car on the bus in a car in a taxi because you can't send off in a taxi I know guys this is why I recommend having something like a grammar book so you can refer to things or at least have a script of this video in front of your eyes on a ship on a boat on a plane

on a train we use on with a means of Transport where we can stand up we can stand up on a plane we can stand up on a bus we can stand up on a boat and also maybe another hint uh we use on with a means of transportation where there is no roof on a horse on a Boat Boat doesn't have a roof normally you can have both but on a boat so normally you don't have a roof on top of you when you're on the upper deck on a bike you can't really stand

up on a bike but it doesn't have a roof so it's on a bike on your bike on a boat another thing that can be super super confusing for you guys sometimes you hear in a hospital and sometimes you hear at a hospital both of those are grammatically correct but guess what they have a different meaning so when you're saying I'm in a hospital that means you're a patient you're actually receiving treatment I don't remember the accident I just remember waking up in a hospital my uncle is in the hospital right now receiving treatment for

his I don't acne I don't know if you go to the hospital for that but he broke a leg he's in a hospital let's do that I'm giving birth in a hospital but you can also say I'm at the hospital but that would mean that you're just doing something there that you're not a patient I am visiting my uncle at the hospital because you're at the hospital not as a patient receiving treatment you're a guest visiting your uncle in college my brother volunteered at a local hospital again he wasn't a patient this is why we

use at the hospital the same goes for school Museum library or any other institution and we also use at with events I'm at this Lady Gaga concert okay guys I hope it wasn't super confusing for you again if you want to make sure you remember all the prepositions make sure to follow the link below and download the free chapter of the grammar book and if you feel like you are willing to invest in your education just a little sum of money using 66 percent off the grammar book will be even cheaper for you because you're

watching this video and now let's check your test I guess you already know everything but let's do it anyways he lives at 13 Long Street because we give the full address we give the number and the street address I'm visiting my grandma at the hospital why because I'm not a patient she's a patient my grandma is in the hospital receiving treatment and I'm visiting her at the hospital because I am not a patient I like traveling on a train you can also say I love traveling by train but this is another topic for another video

here because we remember that we can stand up on the train we use on I like to travel on a train this class is going to be about basic grammar something that you should have learned while back at school you might have forgotten basic grammar but this is why I am here because we're gonna talk about really important things parts of speech noun pronoun verb what does that mean basic tenses that you have to know and third is word order and if you watch this video up to the very end if you understand the concepts

if you learn them there is 99 chance that you would be able to speak English at a level where you can explain what you need explain what you're doing for life or even work with people because what we're gonna talk about creates foundation for your language so please make sure you listen carefully let's do it first of all let's talk about parts of speech we have nouns these are our objects or subjects cat dog mom table these are all nouns pronouns these are words that substitute a noun to avoid repetition cat he dog let's say

she mom she table it then if we have plural they we Etc verb we use verbs to express actions go read eat adjective now here listen carefully adjectives I used to describe nouns because we're going to talk about adverbs later and those are used to describe actions or adjectives this is where it gets a bit complicated but I really want you to understand the difference between adjectives and adverbs because sometimes you use them in a wrong way and I use them in the wrong way sometimes but we want to be grammatically correct so adjective is

used to describe nouns or pronouns right we use adjectives to answer questions like which one what kind of how many how much and the examples are old new beautiful smart Etc adverbs describing actions right adverbs answer questions like when where how and very often are adverbs end with li here fully slowly but not always fast it's also an adverb finally now fast can be both adjective and adverb if we look at a couple of examples he is fast we use fast to describe a pronoun then it's an adjective but if we say he runs really

fast we're actually describing a verb and in this case it's a network just so you know then we have our prepositions we place a preposition before a noun to modify the phrase about above across on Etc conjunction this is a joining word that we use to connect sentences or different parts of one sentence but and however after although Etc and the last but not the least articles a and the I know that you mix them up if you do mix them up I have a video explaining how to not mix them up a or n

and the basically we use a or n to mention a thing that we haven't talked about before there is a mug on my desk but if I'm talking about one particular mug that I've already mentioned in the conversation I would say there is black tea in the mug in the mug that I mentioned before a lot of people are telling me Marina I want this one resource where I can go and answer all of my questions regarding English grammar or Marina can you recommend a book that I can have on my desk and whenever I

have a question whenever I have an idea oh my God I want to learn this I go to the spot my team and I have created a grammar book that covers the most important aspects of English grammar it has a chapter on articles nouns prepositions adjectives and it's not just a book with a set of rules we tried and gathered the life hacks that we use that our students use to memorize everything better to understand everything better so it's not just you reading you're only like how does that work it has real life examples it

has real life explanations and students have left the most amazing reviews about this grammar book and if you want to take one extra step you can get a workbook together with this grammar book which means that you learn something new and then you have exercises to apply your knowledge and answers to check yourself we made this handbook really affordable and really content heavy so that you get real value for money the link will be down below thank you so much for upgrading your English language skills and buying this One-Stop shop book that would answer all

of your questions now let's talk about basic tenses we're going to talk about three tenses present past and future some people would argue these three tenses are enough to speak English they are kind of enough but of course native speakers use all the tenses doesn't mean they understand the construction because they learn everything as kids but I'm gonna explain the basic structure to you because you know we're not native speakers and we don't have this Advantage now present simple tense is used to describe habits I drink coffee every morning schedules the train leaves at 5

pm and general truths ice is cold one thing to remember is that in English there should always be noun a pronoun in a sentence and there always should be a verb so for example if we say I drink coffee every morning then the action is drink sometimes we don't have actions sometimes we just describe something and uh in this case ice is cold a verb is is we use past tense to describe something that happened in the past so basically your verb gets either Ed on the end I walked or if it's an irregular verb

then you just have to learn it she went home he drank a glass of beer and the future tense is of course used to describe our future in this case we just put will before a verb she will come back let's talk about word word word let's talk about word order in a sentence in English first of all we have a subject which is a noun a pronoun then we have a verb or action and then if we need it we have an object which is normally a noun or pronoun as well so let me

give you a quick example she subject smiled at a boy and then if we need to describe our action with an adverb remember adverbs describe verbs we put it right before the verb for example she briefly smiled at a boy so the adverb comes here and then if we have adjectives that describe a noun then they come right before the noun she smiled at a little boy of course this rule is very basic the more you learn the better you become there is one last thing I wanted to tell you don't make this mistake let's

look at these three sentences they often play tennis correct they play tennis often also correct they play often tennis this is incorrect because adverb can never be put between a verb and an object so this is wrong just remember because this sounds this sounds a little weird alright guys I have a question for you do you have articles in your language my language is Russian and in Russian we don't have any articles we don't say ah we don't say the we don't say anything when we refer to nouns it's just the noun right in English

we have articles and my problem and I I still think I have it I miss articles sometimes sometimes I just avoid them in general just because they do not exist in my native language and I remember when I was 16 and I thought I was like super advanced in English when I came to the UK my friend said you know Marina I understand everything that you're saying but you are not using articles at all and that makes you sound really weird to a native speaker and uh he actually he he was a really good friend

so he spent like an hour with me explaining all the Articles so please do not forget about articles when you speak English let's talk about them when and how you use them there are two articles a and the and we use a we use it to talk about objects that we encounter for the first time in our speech for the first time in this conversation and we use the we mean something specific so let's start with the first rule something specific is always the for example Arena where did you get the dress that you wore

yesterday this is a very specific dress I only have one dress and I'm pretty sure she means the dress that I was wearing yesterday and that was the specific white dress whatever so this is a very specific thing but if I'm asking somebody can you get me a dress when you go shopping I'm not asking for a particular dress I just need a dress and whatever dress you can find that suits me just get it so could you get me a dress when you go shopping so see the differences in the first example with the

specific dress I wore yesterday I meant that dress that I wore yesterday when I'm asking to buy a random dress this is a dress another thing to remember we only use a uh when we talk about single objects we cannot say a dresses this is wrong worm don't do that but um if a word starts with a vowel a e o u okay you know wow is right right we replace a with n and apple an eggplant an elephant another general rule is when you talk about something for the first time you say a When

you mention it in your conversation for the second time you use the for example yesterday I went to a party I mentioned it for the first time but in the second sentence I would say the party was amazing because I've already stated that I will be talking about a specific party and in the second sentence I'm referring to that specific party so it's the body now okay or another example yesterday I bought an apple you know just a random Apple that Apple turned out to be rotten so I'm taking it back to the store today

okay so first I'm not mentioning a particular Apple I just bought an apple it doesn't matter which Apple it doesn't matter if it's baked doesn't matter if it's small just an apple but then when I'm talking that it's rotten I already mean that Apple that it's in my fridge so the Apple okay however if we're talking about an object that is one of a kind we always use the the Moon the Sun the Black Sea The Simpsons so we know that there is only one one that's why we always say the moon we know that

there is one Sun so say that sun again we only know that there's just one family when we're talking about we know that we're talking about The Simpsons right this is the movie so whatever it's something one of a kind it's the uncountable nouns what are uncountable nouns porridge oatmeal milk uh whatever you cannot count because uh when we're talking about porridge you cannot really count all the seeds that are there and when we're talking about milk you cannot really count the cells yes you can measure volume but that's different we're talking about counting so

uncountable nouns means you cannot count them right so with uncountable nouns we don't use any articles it's always I like oatmeal can you get me some oatmeal can you make some porridge for breakfast use some right can I have some milk I drink milk for breakfast the only way you would be able to count milk is by adding glasses so can you give me a glass of milk and then you have this a okay but this a refers to Glass not to milk and the second stereo when we don't use an article we announces when

we have plural countable nouns bicycles computers cameras bloggers so whenever these words appear in a sentence we do not use any articles I have three computers at home I like watching bloggers I love bicycles but why articles are so confusing because they're always always always exclusions for example there is a store in your house and they sell specific milk and you want to highlight that you like the milk from that store because it's one of a kind you really mean that milk and you cannot get it anywhere else then you can say oh my God

I love the milk from that store because you're being specific and again I just mentioned that with milk we don't use anytha but we don't use any the or a when we don't mention specific milk we just mentioned milk as food but if we mean some kind of milk that it's only sold in a store that's uh one block away or in your house say the same applies to countable nouns in plural forms if that shop also sells apples that you love you can say oh I love the apples from that store they are the

best in the world and people realize that you mean specific apples that are only sold there and uh they're one of a kind okay please remember that and uh feel free whenever you're watching this video if it's confusing feel free to stop feel free to open your exercise book rewind the video and write everything down again because I know it's super confusing and I know even like super Advanced students make mistakes in articles so this topic is very important it's crucial but I'm here to help there's a quite similar rule for abstract nouns and when

you're talking about something in general you don't need an article for example um information on the Internet is very useful so information is this abstract noun you don't mean any specific information you just mean that information that available to everyone on the Internet is very useful but again just to compare when you use particular information that you receive the information that I've read on Wikipedia regarding YouTube is super useful then you need to insert up the definite article the because you mean some specific information but when you're talking about information in general you don't use

articles at all okay never use articles with proper nouns Tuesday Monday New York you can distinguish those proper nouns by the capital letter that they start with New York is with capital letters Washington DC Russia London uh Tuesday Monday Wednesday February March all of those nouns do not require an article okay never use articles with the names of the countries Dimitri makes this mistake all the time and I keep correcting him Russia France Monaco all of those countries do not require an article but of course us there are exclusions to this rule if a country's

name consists of several words the United Kingdom because that refers to kingdom here so the United Kingdom the United States of America so whenever the name consists of several nouns you use also no articles when you speak about languages and remember at the beginning of this video I asked you to write a comment below what language you speak and if you have articles in that language so you can say I speak French and there is no article I speak Russian and there are no articles in Russian so we don't have any article before the name

of the language and the last but not the least when you're talking about meals don't use articles I've already had lunch today I've already had breakfast let's head out to dinner but again uh we're just talking about non-specific meals just you know stating that we had meal but if you want to say that you are sick from the dinner you had yesterday then you need definite article because you mean that specific dinner we probably ate uh Sushi and you got food poisoning so when you mean a specific dinner it would probably be something in the

past uh you use the so articles are very confusing and uh as an English language learner I think I have worked and learned about them maybe like 10 times in my life I just keep coming back to this I think of course it's the matter of practice but this repetition constant repetition of a topic that is confusing for you I think it's really helpful for you as an English language learner if you want another class from me on articles please let me know in comments down below and I will be happy to make another video

and now let's move on to another topic that is kind of endless in English and the topic is tenses today I'm going to teach you which terms to use when you see certain words in the sentence we call them marker words so sometimes you see them and you're like oh when people use this word they would typically use this particular tense and I'm going to teach you those words so if you're interested continue watching before I start quick disclaimer English evolves all the time yes there are grammar rules and for some tenses especially like present

perfect if a test taker creates a sentence for you puts one of those marker words in that sentence there's like 99 chance he wants you to use present perfect because he wants to know whether you've learned those words by heart but when you talk to a native speaker when you're in this relax relaxed environment people use these words with other tenses as well so there is no like 100 guarantee if you see one of the words that I've mentioned they use like that particular tense but if it's a test I would say it's like 90

plus guarantee that you should use this particular tense but I would always look at the context okay so you see the word and then you look at the context we'll explain you when we use certain tenses so always always pay attention to the context let's start with the simplest tense ever present simple present simple as attempts that is used for regular actions something that happens to you every day every night every month so something that you do regularly and also for some things that are pre-scheduled like the airplane arrives at 5 PM the marker words

for this tense usually every day every week so whenever you see every that's probably present simple often seldom or the synonym for for it is really and really is more Americans for actions that don't happen too often always never sometimes as a rule hardly ever hardly ever is like very very rarely hardly ever do I get 12 hours of sleep per night today on Sunday from time to time I go to swimming pool from time to time the next tense that is also simple past simple and this is the tense that we use to describe

actions in the past and it doesn't really matter what kind of result we have right now because that's present perfect for past simple think of it as telling a story telling a story about something that happened to you last year in 1994 so you're just describing the series of actions or just one action or something that you were doing back then so just think of it this way you are describing something that happened into you something you did a year ago two years ago Etc yesterday the day before yesterday last week month year Etc whenever

you see last that's really past simple a goal is also a great marker word so whenever you see a go again ninety percent plus it's going to be past simple a week ago a month ago a year ago the other day which means on one of the days that have passed in 1994 or any year in the past once once upon a time there lived an elephant in Africa when and you would insert something in the past at three o'clock yesterday or at three o'clock the day before yesterday that day by the way guys if

you want these words but written down something that you can print out something that you can have in front of you on your desk we have created a memo for you where we have all of those marker words you also have a test which is divided by certain levels of English so you can check where you're at right now with your tenses there is also a table that describes how to build different tenses and there's also a table with irregular verbs remember we're talking about past simple right now when we're talking in the past a

verb goes into the second form and there are regular verbs like I walked in the park I published this video but there are also irregular verbs like I put my phone on the table yesterday whatever I drove five miles an hour irregular verbs are formed in a different way it's not just booty doing a D in the end it is something else and we have created a table for you with these verbs and also how to learn them easily there is a small fee to download this table it's one dollar fee just to support our

designers and us so it's me and Vania who created this table and also my team the link is below you're gonna have it all in front of you you can have all the words so you can just print them out hang them in front of you and always have them in front of your eyes so whenever you have questions you can just refer to that memo um by the way in this video what I'm going to talk about all the 12 tenses we're going to talk about person simple past simple future simple present progressive and

present perfect but in the table we have more tenses we have seven tenses in total in terms of this marker words future simple future simple talks about future actions and something for you to remember future simple is when you're not 100 sure about something for example you have a appointment with your friend and he says I will come in an hour so that means he's 90 sure that he will come in an hour maybe he won't come because he can't control other people but if you have an airplane that leaves at 5 PM you see

I'm already using present simple so when it's something that you're 100 sure of it's present simple it's like for timetables opening schedules and stuff the store opens at 9am the store closes at 9 00 PM that's all present simple but when we're talking about actions we're not sure about like 90 well we are sure 90 sure but we're still kind of guessing that's future simple and the marker words are tomorrow the day after tomorrow next week month year Etc in an hour in a second in a minute Etc in the 22nd century soon later someday

and someday course meaning someday in the future in a day in a week in five years so whenever you sit in plus and according to the context you're 100 sure that's future sinful in the future one of these days present progressive and in British English you would call it present continuous it also depends on the textbook that you're using but it's pretty much the same in America would say present progressive or present continuous the test that is used to describe something that is happening right now so the word the first marker word obvious now right

now at the moment today to other marker words and look listen like for example if you're trying to pay somebody's attention something like look they are fighting we need to stop them we are paying somebody's attention to an action that's happening right now still they are still fighting at this very moment currently these days this week this month month this year constantly I'm constantly hearing Sirens when I'm recording videos in this apartment because we're very close to the center and something is constantly going on you see how I'm using this constantly and stuff and the

last but not the least we're gonna talk about present perfect and I know you mix it with fast simple very often so present perfect focuses it's a present tense okay it's not a past tense because it's present perfect and it focuses on the result you have right now come on guys present perfect is a present tense it focuses on the result that you have right now it does not focus on the details of a past action because for that we have past simple for results right now we have present perfect so for example I have

eaten this means that you're not hungry if you're kind of translating explaining if you say I ate pizza yesterday for lunch that means you're telling a story about what happened yesterday you're not really focusing on something that you have right now this is a way for you to determine which tense to use in marker words of course like for this tense marker words that you've probably learned to school ever and ever since already yet whenever you see them on the test oh my God I think that's like 95 97 chance that the test takers want

to test you whether you've learned those marker words or not ever never just already yet recently lately lay greatly means you've started doing something recently again I've started walking every night lately before always so far at last it's the first time it's the first time since we've known each other so all my life all morning about English students least favorite tense which is present perfect because it is so confusing I was taught at school that present perfect is a past tense which is not because if we look at its name it says present perfect which

means that yes we're talking about our actions in the past but their result is still here with us in the present this is why it's present perfect it's a present tense and it's really important not to mix it up with a past tense it's really important to use it in the right way so today we're gonna talk about present perfect one of the most important things to remember about present perfect is that we don't really care when exactly something happened for example I say I've lost my keys I don't really care if I lost them

yesterday I don't really care if I lost them a week ago I care about the result I've lost my keys and I can't get into my house this is the result and so it doesn't matter when exactly quickly the action happened it matters that the result is still here it's my present I can't get into my house the way we form this tense is that we use either have or has I have you have they have we have it she he has after that we use our verb in the third form and here please pay

attention we have regular verbs where the third form is the same as second and is easily formed by adding e d play blade blade stop stopped stopped and we have irregular verbs that you have to learn run run run bring broad broad rise Rose resin so we use the third form and please remember that some regular verbs actually change the way they're written so for example say sad sad we get rid of Y in the second and third form and we add i d study studied studied so just pay attention to the spelling of those

words so we have has or have we have a verb in the third form and if it's a regular verb we add Ed if it's irregular verb we just learn the third form and very often we have a word that tells us that we have to use present perfect ever never since already yet remember what I told you we don't really care about the exact timing of an action so whenever you have a year ago in 1990 T in March 2015 that means that you would probably need to use past simple because again in present

perfect we don't care about the exact point at time we don't care about the exact day or exact year we just care about the result so I have never eaten Pizza in my life okay the result if I try Pizza it's going to be something new for me I've never eaten a taco I've been to Great Britain once that means if I go now it wouldn't be a new country for me but it doesn't really matter whether I've been in Great Britain in 2015 or 2020 in this case we would use past simple since I've

been to Italy many times also when you are taking your TOEFL test when you're taking your IELTS test or whatever test that you're taking please do not contract your verbs don't say I've been there don't write I've been there please say and write I have been there this is formal academic English and this is what's required from you when you're taking a formal test when you're writing a formal essay of course when you're chatting to your friends to your classmates when you're recording a video on YouTube or watching my videos you're free to comment below

oh my God I was scared by the slaps when you're commenting on this video you can totally contract your verbs and say I've been there I've enjoyed this video so much I've learned so much from this video marina you're an amazing teacher you are being too modest so feel free to contract below this video but please don't use contractions when you are taking an academic test the negative form in this tense is formed by adding not I have not done this I have not seen this before or if you want to make it shorter you

can say I haven't done this before I haven't seen this before when you're forming a question in present perfect this half goes into the beginning of the sentence have you ever been to the United States if you want to add wh question your wh word comes first who what when whatever what have you done today this wh comes first and then you have your have or has and then you have your verb or how many times have you been to the UK again your question comes first then you have has a have and then you

have your verb it is really important to learn the word order because when you are speaking to a native speaker and when your intonation isn't right when your word order is not right people might not understand you at all because when you're talking to native speakers they are used to talking to other native speakers and it might be a little hard for them to understand you if you have an accent or if you're mixing up word order this is why whenever you're learning something please make sure you're learning everything accent word order pronunciation that's really

important in any language okay when do we use present perfect we use present perfect to talk about actions that started in the past or happened in the past and still have effect on our present I've lost my keys I can't enter the house they've missed the bus that means they will be late I've already eaten means I'm not hungry so we don't care about when exactly the action happened we care about the result in present I've lost my money I've lost my club but now I've lost my guests we also use present perfect when we

talk about our life experiences I've been to the UK I've studied in Germany I've done this so many times before when you talk about your experiences about things you've done before you use present perfect I've never driven before also if you have an unfinished time word for example this year this week today I want to talk about actions that have happened in the period that is still ongoing you use present perfect let me give you a couple of examples we've already prepared our car twice this year oh my God and there might be another repair

coming up you've already done so many things today you've accomplished so much during this day and you still have time to do something else you've already slept for five hours today stop sleeping come on time to work so whenever we have this ongoing timestamp we use present perfect I've already seen someone cry today also a quick difference between present perfect and past simple if you say I worked here for five years that means you're still working here if you say I worked here for five years that means you're no longer working here you see the

subtle difference in using off tenses makes everything completely different and gives a completely different context to a person you're talking to and let me give you a quick exercise he hungry in 1990 which tense would you use here another example he hungry two times so in the first example you have past simple because it has a timestamp 1990. he visited Hungary in 1990 but in the second sentence you don't have a time stamp you just have a number of times he has visited hungry so he has visited Hungary two times guys if you like how

I teach your tenses I have a whole course on English language dances it's really detailed really interactive with a lot of exercises because once you got information about tenses you really need to practice them it has a lot of additional materials for you to practice to learn to print out and put on your desk only for you guys because you're watching this video and you're watching up to the very end you're getting an exclusive promo code to take my course with a discount the link and the promo code will be below thank you guys for

watching this video up to the very end Please Subscribe this channel if you are learning English and you need additional resources to enhance your Learning Journey if you know someone who's learned in English and who needs help please share this Channel and of course do not forget to follow me on Instagram where I post stories about my life in the US as an immigrant and also post short videos about English and also about my life in California thank you guys so much and I'll see you very soon in my next videos bye bye