The Day After Tomorrow

There's a group of phrases used for talking about time that every student needs to learn. In fact, a very common mistake in conversation is to use before and after when the phrases below should be used.

Starting Now

Throughout this lesson, it's important to remember that we are talking about past and future times now. Our point of view is the present: this minute, this hour, today, this week, this month, this year, etc. Here's a simple example:

Now + 1 day
Right: I'm going to leave tomorrow.

This is an obvious example, and no one would make a mistake here. But look at this:

Now + 3 weeks
Right: I'm going to leave in 3 weeks.
Wrong: I'm going to leave after 3 weeks.
Wrong: I'm going to leave 3 weeks after.

Here's an example referring to a past event:

Now - 2 years
Right: He went 2 years ago.
Wrong: He went before 2 years.
Wrong: He went 2 years before.

Special Phrases

In some cases there are special words or phrases you can use to express the past or future time:

Now - 1 day
Right: He went yesterday.
Right: He went 1 day ago.
Wrong: He left 1 day before.

Now + 2 weeks
Right: I'm going to leave the week after next.
Right: I'm going to leave in 2 weeks.
Wrong: I'm going to leave 2 weeks after.

A Big Chart

Here's a table showing many possible combinations. In general, you can use a or 1 interchangeably, so a day ago means the same as 1 day ago, for example.