English Phrase That Will Make You Sound Fluent – To Be Supposed To
In today’s episode you will learn a new phrase that will help you sound fluent when speaking English. The phrase: TO BE SUPPOSED TO. Enjoy :)
Transcriptions
Hey muchachos, you are listening to EMS this episode number 58, numero cincuenta y ocho.
Woohoo! Welcome amigos. Hope you had a great week! My name is Milena from www.englishmadesimple.net. Welcome everybody!
Let’s do something a little bit easier this week. How about that?
Let’s try something easier this week…
I suppose the last week’s episode was a bit complex, a bit complicated to grasp, to grasp is another way to say to understand. It was a bit complcated to understand. Dynamic and Stative verbs oh phew! Hope you drank a lot of coffee for that one, there was a lot of information for you to take in. Sorry about that…
We are here to learn to speak English with confidence, I’d like to teach you as many phrases and as many words as possible to help you learn English faster. You are at the right place…
What are some common phrases English speakers use, what are some common phrases that natives use, what are some common expressions? I bet you all know the grammar, the basics, but when it comes to speaking, well, that’s another beast, well there are certain things you must know, there are certain words you have to be aware of so when you do speak English it will make you sound fluent.
So if you are a first time listener of English Made Simple, first of all, welcome amigo, I recommend you check out some previous episodes. Even if you are a regular listener of this show – I recommend you refresh your memory as well with some of the previous episodes that will help you sound more fluent.
Those episodes will help you sound more fluent:
For example: episode #44 – Used to, Episode #23 Many vs Much – what is the difference there, Episode #28 Giving advice SHOULD, Episode 29 Must vs Have to – the difference between those two – then we looked at some phrasal verbs using the word LOOK in episode #19 and Different ways of Using the word GET in episode number #16. Sweet sixteen.
Oh you know what? Bloody hell, just listen to all of them, you will learn so much! It’s a good idea to revisit them and refresh your memory.
So what I am trying to say here is…. I am adding this new episode to the mix, episode number 58 – today’s episode will also help you sound super dooper fluent. Or I should say uber fluent.
Well, I suppose it will, make you sound fluent. Anyway.
Today’s episode is no secret, it is written in the title of this very episode. It’s going to be about a very common phrase spoken by native speakers – To Be Supposed To. That’s the phrase we are going to learn today.
You must have heard of this phrase before, and I am sure that you have something similar in your own respective languages, in Spanish it is: se suponerse que.
Se supone que – It is supposed to be…
The word itself, to SUPPOSE as a verb means to think or assume that something is true.
For example: Do you think the latest James Bond movie is worth seeing? Well, I think so, I suppose so. When I am not 100% sure about something, I can reply with either: I suppose so or I think so. They can be used interchangeably.
I suppose the new James Bond movie is worth seeing? I don’t know. I think so.
Did you know, that the native speakers confuse Suppose To and Supposed To. This expression should always be written as Supposed to, like in the past tense, we just add D at the end, SUPPOSED and then we add TO. It’s always followed by TO. This expression is always followed by TO. So, supposed to!
Because it’s followed by a ‘T’ sound, most of the time even the native speakers, they tend to write this phrase without the ‘D’. Suppose to.
Suppose to or Supposed to – it’s common for native speakers to get these two confused.
Cool, you know what? Let’s dive straight into it, let’s begin with some examples.
WHEN do we use this phrase?
We can use it when we want to say that something is not allowed or when something is prohibited.
For example: I am not supposed to tell you .. something– In Spanish it would be: Se supone que no tengo que decirte.
It just means: It has been agreed that I am not supposed to tell you something.
Ok it’s kind of a weird example.
Here’s my personal example: My husband tells me: You are not supposed to mix Nutella and wine.
Se supone que no deberias mezclar Nutella con vino. To what I reply whatever, go and mind your own business. Whatever, you know go and mix whatever you want to mix.
We could use Supposed To instead of the word SHOULD. Milena, you shouldn’t mix nutella and wine. Ok. you shouldn’t. Same as you are not supposed to mix nutella and wine. You shouldn’t do it. It’s not supposed to be like that.
It’s not supposed to be like that haha
Let’s look at some other examples where we can use this phrase when we want to say that something is said to be True or that something is believed.
For example:
Have you seen the latest James Bond movie? It is supposed to be really good. It is supposed to be awesome.
So the movie is supposed to be really good. So I heard people say that’s really good.
Let’s look at some more ways we could use this phrase.
We can use SUPPOSED TO when we talk about things that have been arranged, we use it when something is expected. It is almost like the word SHOULD. Like I used in the previous example.
I am supposed to be at work tomorrow by 9, it depends on the traffic really, but I could be late.
Really what I am saying is that: I should be at work tomorrow by 9am. When we say I am supposed to be at work tomorrow by 9 – it means I am expected to be at work tomorrow at 9.
I am supposed to be at work tomorrow, I am expected to be at work tomorrow.
Easy peasy lemon squeezy?
We can also use SUPPOSED TO when something is supposed to happen but doesn’t actually happen.
For example: My friend was supposed to phone me to let me know she would be late. But she sent me a text message instead so I didn’t hear it. I didn’t read the message. So she promised to phone me, but she texted me instead. She was supposed to phone me but she texted me instead.
Another example, we can use with Supposed To.
I bought a new phone, and the batteries in this phone are supposed to last 48 hours.
And if my new phone breaks down, it becomes faulty, what am I supposed to do then? What should I do then? Buy a new phone?
Again, different ways of using Supposed To. What am I supposed to do then? What should I do then.
We can also use this phrase in the past tense, for example.
For example, In the past tense we could say, I was supposed to, He, She was supposed to…
Se suponia que… it should happen, but for some reason it didn’t happen.
For example: My friend was supposed to go to Justin Bieber’s concert, but she missed out on the tickets. She couldn’t get the tickets in time, it was all sold out. So I said to my friend, don’t worry you just saved yourself $100 dollars. You didn’t waste any money – go and buy new shoes!
Let’s simplify this a bit – how about a simple example, just to make you think ok?
To make you think about this phrase. I will include some Spanish translations here.
A simple example:
It is supposed to be nice weather this weekend. (Future tense) Se supone que habrá buen tiempo. OR Se supone que va haber buen tiempo.
It’s kind of implying a future tense.
There are other ways we could use the word Supposed to – we could use it in place of WHAT IF, what if, creating a hypothetical scenario, to make an assumption, something hasn’t happened yet but What if it had happened, what then?
Example: Suppose it rained tomorrow, what should we do then? Stay at home and watch TV?
Another way to say it: What if it rained tomorrow, what should we do then?
What if – Supon/Supone/Supongamos que What if…
What if we took the plane? We could get there faster.
Supon/Supone que nosotros tomemos el avión.
So that’s it amigos! That is how we use this phrase Supposed To.
I hope you have learnt something new in today’s episode.
Now it’s your turn. I recommend you practise today’s phrase.
What were you supposed to do this weekend? Maybe you were supposed to do something this weekend but you couldn’t because you were sick or because you were busy with other things? What were you supposed to do this weekend?
You can answer this question by saying: I was supposed to go out with my friends this weekend. Or I was supposed to go for a run this weekend. I was supposed to exercise, but I just got too lazy haha.
Alright guys, be safe and be good. I will use Short and Sweet to make an announcement and then next week, we will learn the difference between Supposed to and Meant to. A-ha! Another good one for you guys. Until then. Hasta la proxima!