next: next week/weekend/month/year …
*the* next week/weekend/month/year …
Politics is the ability to foretell what is going to happen tomorrow, next week, next month and next year. And to have the ability afterwards to explain why it didn’t happen.
La politica è la capacità di prevedere cosa accadrà domani, la settimana prossima, il mese prossimo e l’anno prossimo. E avere la capacità di spiegare dopo perché non è accaduto.
– Winston Churchill
✓ It’s our fiftieth anniversary next year.
✗ It’s our fiftieth anniversary *the* next year.
E’ il nostro cinquantesimo anniversario l’anno prossimo.
The week after the current week is next week (not *the* next week), the month after the current month is next month (not *the* next month), and so on.
✓ See you next week.
✗ See you *the* next week.
Ci vediamo la settimana prossima.
✓ Next year will be a critical year for the economy.
✗ *The* next year will be a critical year for the economy.
Il prossimo anno sarà un anno cruciale per l’economia.
The week after another week in the future (for example after next week) is
the next week:
Sorry, I’m away on Friday next week. Can we make it Friday the next week? (= the week after next week)
Mi dispiace, sono via venerdì della prossima settimana. Possiamo fare venerdì della settimana dopo?
Notice the difference between the following two examples:
We don’t have time to finish it now. We’ll finish it next time.
Non abbiamo il tempo di finirlo ora. Lo finiremo la prossima volta.
The next time I saw him he was married with two kids.
La volta successiva che l’ho visto era sposato con due figli.
The first example refers to next time in relation to now (this time), so in this case the is not used.
The second example refers to the time after another time (not now), so in this case the is used.
Now try the quiz below! There are FIVE answers. The pass mark is 80% (4 out of 5). Click on the blue arrows to go to the next or previous question. You can check your answers immediately or when you’ve finished the quiz.