1101 – How to Use “Supposed To” Naturally

0:00I'm supposed to meet her at 6. You're not supposed to park here. It's supposed to rain tomorrow. Oh, I was supposed to call you yesterday. What am I supposed to do? Suppose to is one of those expressions that you hear all the time in everyday English. And we use it for several different situations. We can talk about plans and expectations. Rules, things people say are true, and even things that are planned but never happened. Have you ever wondered about the different ways that you can use supposed to in everyday English? If so, you're in luck. Because today we're going to look at how you can use supposed to naturally in everyday English. Welcome to another Happy English Podcast coming to you from New York City.

1:02And here's your English teacher, Michael. 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 1,101. How do you suppose to naturally? And by the way, if you're enjoying learning English with me, be sure to follow or subscribe so you don't miss new episodes. Let's start with using supposed to with plans that also involve expectations. Imagine you made plans to meet your friend after work. And someone asks, what are you doing tonight? You could say, oh, I'm supposed to meet Lisa at 6. This means that meeting Lisa is the plan and she has an expectation that I'm going to be there. Here's another example.

2:04Your coworker asks, when is the package arriving? You could say it's supposed to arrive this afternoon. Or maybe a friend asks you when that new restaurant in town is going to open. You could say it's supposed to open next month. In all of these situations, you expect something to happen based on a planned schedule or information you received. And this use of supposed to has a little bit of uncertainty built into it. If you say the train is supposed to arrive at 8.20, that's the scheduled time. But of course, it could be late. The package is supposed to come today means that's what you expect, but you don't know exactly for certain that it will. We also use supposed to when talking about rules or what people are expected to do.

3:05For example, imagine you see a car parked in a place where parking isn't allowed. You might say, hey, they're not supposed to park there. That means there's a rule saying you shouldn't do that. Or maybe you're visiting someone's home and they tell you you're supposed to take your shoes off before you go inside. Or it work. Someone might say we're supposed to submit our time sheets by Friday. In these examples, supposed to mean something like expected to or required to because there's a rule. And this can also work for everyday social expectations. Like you're supposed to say thank you when someone gives you a gift. Or aren't you supposed to turn off your phone during the movie? It may not always be an official written rule, but it's something that people generally

4:07expect you to do. And again, that's the key point with supposed to. There's an expectation that something will happen. Now, let's take a look at the past form. Was supposed to or were supposed to. We often use this when something was planned or expected, but it didn't happen. Like, oh, I was supposed to call Jenny yesterday, but I completely forgot. The phone call was the plan, but it never happened. Or we were supposed to have a picnic, but it started raining. Again, there was a plan, but something changed. Here's another situation. The coworker says, where's Jack? And you say, I don't know, he was supposed to be here at 9 o'clock. Jack was expected at 9, but apparently he isn't there. Oh, surprise, surprise.

5:08So this pattern is extremely useful for talking about plans that went wrong, changed, or simply didn't happen. And notice the difference between I was going to call Jenny and I was supposed to call Jenny. Both can describe a past plan, but I was supposed to call Jenny suggests that there was some expectation or responsibility to do that. Maybe I promised a call or she asked me to call or there was some other reason why it was expected that I would call her. Another very common use of supposed to is when we talk about something that people say or believe. For example, your friend recommends a new restaurant and says, it's supposed to be very good. That means you've heard that it's good, although you may not have tried it yourself. It's supposed to be good.

6:09Or maybe you're thinking about seeing a movie. Someone says, I heard it's supposed to be really funny. Another example would be that new phone is supposed to have an amazing camera. Here, supposed to talks about the reputation, expectation, or information we've heard from someone else. And we also use supposed to this way when we talk about the weather, like it's supposed to rain tomorrow. It's supposed to get really cold tonight or it's supposed to be sunny all weekend. We're talking about what the forecast says, not something that we know for a certain now. Let's look at what am I supposed to do. This phrase is very common when someone doesn't know what action is expected or possible. Like imagine your computer stops working 10 minutes before an online meeting.

7:11You could say, oh, what am I supposed to do now? You're frustrated because you don't know what the next step should be. Maybe somebody tells you you can park here and the parking lot across the street is full. You could say, well, where am I supposed to park? Or perhaps your boss gives you two important jobs and they both have to be finished at the same time. You might say, how am I supposed to finish both of these by noon and tone matters here? A neutral, what am I supposed to do? Could simply mean you're asking for instructions, but a little bit frustrated, what am I supposed to do? How am I supposed to finish this? This kind of sounds like this situation is impossible. What do you expect for me? As usual, tone gives us a lot of information. So in all of these situations, supposed to is used in situations where there's an expectation.

8:18We use supposed to for plans and expectations. I'm supposed to meet her at six. We use it for rules or behavior. You're not supposed to park here. We use supposed to for something that was planned or expected, especially when it didn't happen. Oh, I was supposed to call you yesterday. We also use it to talk about what we heard or what people expect. That's supposed to be a very good restaurant. And questions like, what am I supposed to do? Ask what action is expected in a particular situation. So here's your challenge. Try writing a few sentences with supposed to using the various meanings that we talked about today. Because as you know, the best way to remember English like this in any other word or phrase 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.

9:21A, thanks for listening. And remember, learning in other languages is not easy. But it's not impossible. And I'm here to help you on your journey. This podcast was brought to you by Happy English. Please visit myhappyenglish.com. Show your support for Happy English by leaving us a review. Get English, get happy, happy English.