Today on Everyday Grammar, we will learn to describe our birthdays.
When people ask us the question, When is your birthday?
We can answer a few different ways.
We can use the season,
Spring, summer, autumn, fall, or winter,
the month, or the day.
My birthday is in the summer.
Her father's birthday is in March.
Last Sunday was her birthday.
His birthday is the 4th of May.
Remember that the word birthday is different from birthdate.
Birthdate is the exact date, like December 7, 1997.
The word birthday can be the date,
or you can answer more generally. For example,
My niece's birthday is in August.
Her birthdate is August 3.
When we want to say how old we are,
we can use the present or future verb tenses
depending on when our birthdays are.
We can use the past tense with the verb turn.
If we are talking about a future birthday,
say next year or in a few months,
we can answer the question of
How old will you be with
I will be plus age or
I'll be plus number years old
In 2023, I will be 36 years old.
On your birthday, you can use the present tense. Deborah is 55 today. For the past tense,
we can use the structure of the verb be plus age years old,
but we generally use it to talk about past ages
in reference to something else.
We can also use the verb turn to talk about how old we are.
In this way, turn means to reach or pass a certain age.
Therefore, we can use the past tense with turn for talking about birthdays.
For example, I turned 35 this year.
This means that my birthday was in the past.
I am still considered to be 35 years old after my birthday. In the present tense,
we can use turn to say that a birthday is today, as in,
And to express a future birthday,
we can use the same form, the present tense.
This means that sometime this year, the near future,
Kristen will be 41 years old.
We can use the modal verb of will with turn
to express a future birthday.
I will turn 36 next year.
When talking about making plans for a birthday, someone may ask you,
What do you want to do for your birthday?
You can answer with ideas of plans that you would like to do.
You can use the expressions,
You can even use the expression,
She wants to go to a French restaurant for her birthday.
I'm going to celebrate with my friends later.
If your birthday has already passed, someone may ask you,
You can answer by describing your birthday with an adjective.
Then they may ask you,
You can answer in the past tense.
For my birthday this year, we went to an amusement park.
If someone wants to get you a gift for your birthday, they may ask you,
If you want something for your birthday,
that means a gift, generally.
If you want something on your birthday,
that could be a party,
or to make some type of plans to celebrate on the actual date.
On my birthday next year, I would like to go to the countryside.
Please don't buy me anything for my birthday.
After your birthday, people may ask you
what you received as a gift for your birthday.
What did you get for your birthday?
What did you get on your birthday?
You could say that you got or received something.
I got a cat for my birthday.
Or you could say what you got and who gave it to you.
My mom sent me a lovely birthday card in the mail.
Here's how you might tell someone about another's birthday.
Her husband gave her jewelry for her birthday.
Let's end this report with a homework assignment.
In 5-8 sentences, write about your birthday this year.
Try to use ideas that you have learned about in today's report.
You can use the question headings as your guide.
Remember to use the correct verb tense
depending on when your birthday is.
Send your writing to our email address.
We will select one piece of writing
and provide feedback and suggestions in a future report. I'm Faith Perlow. And I'm Jill Robbins.