In this mini episode, you will learn how to talk about doing something a certain number of times in a certain period of time. (It sounds complicated, but it’s not!)
Episode 389 of the Everybody ESL podcast is a mini episode that teaches you how to talk about doing something a certain number of times in a certain period of time. (It sounds complicated, but it’s not!) Send your questions about English and your comments and suggestions to EverybodyESL@gmail.com. (And let me know if you’d like to record the introduction to a future episode.)
Intro
“Hello, everyone! This is Meredith, from Shanghai, China. And you are listening to Everybody ESL.”
Welcome to episode 389 of Everybody ESL, the podcast for everybody who wants to improve their English, practice their English, or just learn more English. My name is Ben, and I have a mini episode for you today, where I am going to teach you about one English topic. You can subscribe to the Everybody ESL podcast at Apple podcasts and wherever you find your podcasts. If you like Everybody ESL, leave it a good review so other people can find out about it too. And if you have any questions, comments, or suggestions for me, please send an email to EverybodyESL@gmail.com. Okay! Let’s get on with this mini episode.
The episode
In this episode, I am going to teach you how to say that you do something a certain number of times in a certain time period.
That sounds extremely complicated and confusing. It really is not. Describing it sounds complicated, but I don’t think that explaining it or understanding it will be complicated.
Let me give you an example so that you will understand, right away, the kind of thing that I am talking about.
Let’s say that I go to the dentist—I have a dentist appointment—two times in every year. Every year, I go to the dentist two times.
How do we usually say that kind of thing? How do we usually say something like “I go to the dentist two times every year”? The way we usually say that kind of thing is like this:
“I go to the dentist two times a year.” Two times a year. What I pronounced as “uh” is written as the letter a. You know, it’s the article a, which is often pronounced “uh.”
I go to the dentist two times a year. That means, each year—or every year—I go to the dentist two times.
This is how we often say that kind of thing.
I do something (like going to the dentist) this number of times (like two times) in this time period (a year). I go to the dentist two times a year.
And so, we can also make sentences like these:
“She brushes her teeth two times a day.” She brushes her teeth two times a day. In other words, each day, or every day, she brushes her teeth two times.
Or you could say, “She goes to the gym three times a week.” She goes to the gym three times a week. In other words, she goes to the gym three times in every week, or three times during each week.
And you could also say, “He cleans his kitchen one time a month.” He cleans his kitchen one time a month. In other words, each month he cleans his kitchen one time.
You will often hear this kind of thing said in that way when the time period is something like one hour, or one day, or one week, one month, one year. Something like that. When we are talking about a time period like that, this is the construction we often use: “This many times a time period.” This many times a day. This many times a week. This many times a month. And so on.
Notice that when the time period is an hour, we cannot say “‘uh’ hour” or “a hour. We have to use the form “an hour.” You know, that article sometimes sounds like a—or “uh”—and sometimes it sounds like “an.” If the word that comes after starts with a vowel sound, then we have to use “an.” This happens when the time period is hour: h-o-u-r. Because hour starts with a vowel sound: hour. An hour. Three times an hour. Four times an hour.
The last thing that I want to tell you about this construction is that often people will not say, “one time” or “two times.” Often, they will use once: o-n-c-e, or twice: t-w-i-c-e. Once means exactly the same thing as “one time.” And twice means exactly the same as “two times.” But often, instead of saying, “one time,” people will say, “once.” And, instead of saying, “two times,” people will say, “twice.”
It is definitely not wrong to say, “one time” or “two times.” But often people will say, “once” or “twice.”
So that is how you talk about doing a certain thing a certain number of times in a certain period of time. It’s actually a very useful and common construction that I think you should know.
Outro
This is the end of episode 389 of Everybody ESL. Remember: if you have questions about English, or if you have comments for me, or if you would like to record an introduction that I can play at the beginning of future episodes—the same way Meredith recorded the introduction you heard at the beginning of this episode—send an email to EverybodyESL@gmail.com. I’ll be back soon with a new episode. And until then, keep going, keep practicing, and keep learning. I’ll see you soon. Goodbye!