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  • Yeah, it was really good to see you last night.

  • No, I had a good time.

  • Yeah, we haven't seen each other in ages, so we can get together again next week.

  • Next week?

  • Okay, I'll see you next week.

  • Okay. Bye.

  • Sorry, that was just an old friend of mine.

  • Hey, everyone.

  • I'm Alex.

  • Thanks for clicking and welcome to this lesson on "Next and Last Vs. The Next/The Last".

  • So, this is a very common confusion, a very common grammatical problem that I sometimes

  • hear from people who are learning English who are at the beginner, and intermediate,

  • and sometimes at the advanced level even.

  • But it's okay.

  • You're here to learn, and if you've clicked on this video, like, you want to know this

  • stuff and I'm going to do my best to transmit this information to you.

  • So, first: "next/last".

  • Now, when you are talking and using "next" or "last" with a day of the week, a week,

  • a month, a season, a year, basically you are referring to the one which means you are referring

  • to the day, the week, the month, the season, or the year directly after or directly before

  • the current one.

  • Okay?

  • So, you heard my conversation on the phone:

  • "Yeah, it was great to get together, you know, last night.

  • It was great to see you last night."

  • The night before today, last night.

  • And I said I will see them next week, the week directly after the current week.

  • Okay?

  • So, for example: "See you next week!"

  • The week directly after this week, the current one.

  • "I saw him last night."

  • I saw him basically directly before today.

  • Or if it's night now, I saw him last night, the night before this one.

  • Next: "Did you call her last Friday?

  • She told me you promised her you were going to call her.

  • Did you call her last Friday?"

  • The Friday before now, the most recent Friday.

  • Okay?

  • "Next month will be busy."

  • So if you are, you know, preparing for the holiday season or a specific time of the year

  • where it's going to be very busy for you, and your family, and your friends, you can

  • say: "Next month", the month directly after this one.

  • So, for example, if it's January, next month is February.

  • If it's March...

  • March, April.

  • Yeah, I know my months.

  • March, the next month...

  • Well, next month after March is April. Okay?

  • So: "I will see you next month.

  • Next month will be busy."

  • "I can't wait for next summer!"

  • Okay?

  • So if summer just finished and the weather is getting colder if you are in a country

  • that, you know, has more than two seasons or one season in some cases, please...

  • You know, you can say: "I can't wait for next summer.

  • I can't wait."

  • And finally: "We're going to travel to Prague next year."

  • The year after this one.

  • So if the year now is 2017, next year is 2018.

  • Okay?

  • So we're travelling there next year.

  • So, you use "next" and "last" with a day of the week, or just the word "week", or a month

  • of the year, or a season, or a specific year when you want to refer to the one directly

  • after or directly before the current one.

  • You got it?

  • Can I move on to the next part?

  • Yeah?

  • Okay, the next part.

  • So: "the next" and "the last".

  • So, when you are talking about the period of seven, 30, whatever number of days, or

  • weeks, or months, or seasons, or years, or any other historical periods, whatever - starting

  • at or preceding, which means coming before the moment of speaking, you use: "the next",

  • "the last".

  • Okay, that's a lot of information, so if we just look at some examples I think it's a

  • lot easier to understand and to see what I mean.

  • So, for example: "The next 2 weeks will be tough."

  • If you are preparing for exams and you have exams for two weeks from now when you're speaking,

  • the moment of speaking, you're thinking ahead, like:

  • "Oh, man. Next week and the week after next week",

  • so the next two weeks, this period of time will

  • be tough starting from my moment of speaking.

  • Next: "The last month has been amazing."

  • So, basically the 30 days preceding today.

  • So a month, 30 days, or 31 days, or 29, or 28 days depending on the month and leap years,

  • and things like that.

  • You can say: "Oh my god, the last 30 days, the last month has been amazing."

  • The 30 days preceding now have been amazing.

  • Next: "The next year and a half will be really interesting at my company."

  • So if your company, you know, is starting a new type of business plan and they say:

  • "Okay, we want to get from here to here in the next year and a half, you can say:

  • 'The next year and a half starting now until a year and a half from now will be very interesting.'"

  • So, one more time: "The next year and a half will be really interesting at my company."

  • Okay, next: "The last two hours of work have been a nightmare!"

  • So, we all have those days sometimes when you're at your job and everything is going

  • great, and then there's a period where something goes wrong.

  • And it goes wrong sometimes for a few minutes, sometimes for a few hours, sometimes for the

  • whole day, but in this...

  • In this example, can say: "The past two hours, the last two hours at work have been a nightmare."

  • Okay?

  • And finally: "The next few minutes of this video are very important."

  • So, stay tuned and keep watching, keep watching.

  • Okay, so the first part of this video we talked about: "next", "last", "the next", "the last"

  • in relation to specific days, weeks, months, years, seasons.

  • And the rules that I mentioned they apply to those days, weeks, months, years, seasons, etc.

  • But there are situations where we can use "next" and "last", specifically "the next",

  • "the last" not only with what I just mentioned, but also with events, or situations, or a

  • special case when we use the word "time" itself, like: "The last time", "the next time", and

  • we'll get to that a little later.

  • So, first basically what you have to think about when you use "the next" or "the last"

  • with an event or a situation is just follow the basic article rules for "the".

  • When you're talking about a definite or a specific event, or time, or situation, or

  • the end of a period of time, for example, like in the first example.

  • So: "The last week of university was really hectic."

  • The word "hectic" means incredibly busy.

  • So if you are, you know, talking with your friends and remembering your time in university,

  • you are referring to a specific time, a specific period of time during university when you

  • were in university.

  • So: "Oh, man, I remember the last week".

  • Which week?

  • The last week of university, that specific, definite, final week of university.

  • It was really hectic.

  • Next: "The last season of Lost"-TV show-"was a little messy".

  • Or if you mention, and you know what I'm talking about with Lost, you can say:

  • "The last episode of Lost was very controversial."

  • So some fans loved it, some fans hated it, some fans were just: "Enh", about it, they

  • didn't care very much.

  • So we're specifically talking about the last season of Lost.

  • You're following the article rule when you're talking about a definite period, or a definite

  • event, a definite situation, or in this case a definite season.

  • Which season?

  • The last season.

  • Which episode?

  • The last episode.

  • Or: "The next episode", if you want to talk about the next, for example.

  • Or you can say, if you're watching a TV show, you finish one episode and you can't wait

  • for the next episode.

  • Right?

  • Okay, I mentioned the word "time" is a little special, and this is because with the word

  • "time" you can use: "the last" or "the next", or "last" or "next".

  • So, for example: "The next time I see you, I'll bring my PlayStation."

  • Or: "Next time I see you, I'll bring my PlayStation.", "I'll tell you the next time I see you.",

  • "I'll tell you next time I see you."

  • Okay?

  • So, basically you can follow the rule of either-or if you have the word "time" after "next",

  • or "the next", or "last", or "the last".

  • Okay? Only with the word "time", though.

  • And finally, following these rules: "The next Star Wars movie should be good."

  • Now, I don't know when you're watching this video, but there's a very good chance at the

  • time you're watching it there's a Star Wars movie coming out for the next, like, 20 years,

  • so I'm sure this is still relevant.

  • Is it the Han Solo movie now, is it the Yoda movie?

  • Whichever one it is.

  • I hope it's good, whatever one we're up to at this point in time whenever you're watching

  • this video.

  • Okay, so guys, I hope that I was able to clear up some of the confusion that some students

  • have with: "next", "last", "the next", "the last".

  • If you want to test your understanding of everything we discussed today, as always,

  • you can check out the quiz on www.engvid.com.

  • And there we have a ton of grammar lessons, pronunciation lessons, vocabulary lessons,

  • reading, writing; anything you can think of, it's there.

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  • So you can interact with me there or in the comments section below.

  • Or I'm assuming comments will stay below forever, so if they're here, you know, in the comments

  • section here; or if they're here, in the comments section here.

  • But I think the comments are probably below.

  • Okay?

  • So just comment below, let me know if you like the video, and tell your friends.

  • Til next time, thanks for clicking.

Yeah, it was really good to see you last night.

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