Describing Your Birthday
Today, on Everyday Grammar, we will learn to describe our birthdays.
When is your birthday?
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 word 'birthday' is different from 'birthdate.' 'Birthdate' is the exact date, like December, 7th, 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 3rd.
How old are you? What age are you turning?
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 + (age). Or…
I'll be + (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' + 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,
Brad turns 60 today.
And to express a future birthday, we can use the same form, the present tense.
Kristen turns 41 this year.
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.
What do you want to do for your birthday?
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:
'I want to…' or 'I would like to…' to be more polite.
You can even use the expression 'I + be going to' if you have already made the plans, yourself.
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 past, someone may ask you,
'How was your birthday?'
You can answer by describing your birthday with an adjective.
My birthday party was wonderful.
Then they may ask you:
'What did you do for your birthday?'
You can answer in the past tense:
For my birthday this year, we went to an amusement park.
What do you want for/on your birthday?
If someone wants to get you a gift for your birthday they may ask you:
'What do you want for your birthday?'
'What do you want on your birthday?'
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.
What did you get for/on your birthday?
After your birthday, people may ask what you received as a gift for your birthday:
'What did you get for your birthday?'
'What do 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 is how you might tell about another's birthday:
Her husband gave her jewelry for her birthday.
Homework
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: learningenglish@voanews.com
We will select one piece of writing and provide feedback and suggestions in a future report!
I'm Faith Pirlo
And I'm Jill Robbins.
Faith Pirlo wrote this lesson for VOA Learning English.
Describe your birthday. Tell us about your birthday in the comments below or write to us at learningenglish@voanews.com.
_____________________________________________________
Words in This Story
niece –n. the daughter of your brother or sister
reference –n. the act of mentioning something in speech or in writing
modal verbs – n. (grammar) verbs that are used to express possibility, ability, or necessity.
amusement park - n. a place that has many games and rides (such as roller coasters and merry-go-rounds) for entertainment
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- Voice of America
What the Westminster show dogs' names mean
They have names that could make a random password generator cry uncle. Meet, for example, GCHG CH Calicops Sassafras Gonnakikurass. 'She's a saucy girl. Her name says it all,' Fred Ortiz said as he groomed the Brussels griffon to compete Monday at the Westminster Kennel Club dog show. Her name says ... what exactly? Well, ponder the final part, and you may understand what her owners are wryly getting at. But in any event, you can just call her Wrassy. Westminster's main competition began Monday with breed-by-breed judging that leads to U.S. dogdom's most illustrious best in show prize, awarded Tuesday night. The kennel club held agility and obedience contests Saturday, as well as other events. If show dogs are the aristocrats of the canine world, they often have the names, titles and nicknames to match. Their 'registered,' or formal, names are the ones used for showing. Those long, confounding-sounding appellations are packed with show-dog information. Clumps of capital letters at the beginning, and sometimes also the end, signify the dogs' achievements in various sports. 'GCHG' and 'CH,' for example, denote various levels of championship in the traditional, breed-by-breed judging. After those titles, the first word in a registered name generally indicates the kennel, or breeding program, that produced the dog. Other kennels or dogs in the pedigree might get a shout-out at the end. Meanwhile, show dogs have 'call names' that they go by on a day-to-day basis. A dog might also have had a different 'puppy name' bestowed by its breeder and later changed by its eventual owner. The portmanteau words and puzzling phrases in registered names are partly meant to avoid duplication with other dogs in registries that go back over a century. But many breeders also use patterns to help them remember which litter was which. Professional dog handlers and sometime miniature schnauzer breeders Rachel Adams and Alberto Montila name their litters in alphabetical order — one litter had names that start with 'A,' the next with 'B,' and so on, Adams said Monday. She was blow-drying a French bulldog named GCHG CH Elysium's Adventurous Rapscallion D'Assisi, better known as Finn. When Amie McLaughlin picks names for her litters of Norwegian buhunds, she just likes to have pun. 'I like the name to be something that someone looks at and says, 'Oh, that's cute,'' said McLaughlin, of Kent, Washington. A dog she bred and guided Monday, GCH CH Cloudpointe Nothing Betta Than This CGC, was born into a fish-themed litter (hence 'Betta,' a type of Southeast Asian fish). He goes by Eirik when he's at home with co-owner Sarah Woodworth in Paloa, Hawaii. GCH CH Aberdeen's Zoltar RN BN-V — just Zoltar, to his friends — has owners who appreciate humor, too. For one thing, they share their Los Angeles-area home with a shaggy, clownish, 120-pound otterhound who likes to cuddle. Comedian and actor Chris Hardwick, who owns the dog with his wife, model and actor Lydia Hearst, named Zoltar for the fortune-telling machine that makes a teenager grow to adult proportions overnight in the movie 'Big.' 'We knew he was going to grow,' and plenty big, explained Hearst. Zoltar got some recognition Monday from the judge, but the dog's cousin Melody, aka GCHS CH Dobhran's Alexa Play Some Music, won best of breed. Hardwick and Hearst were also cheering on the French bulldog breed winner called Sassy, or GCHS Diva's Sassafras Lass. She and other breed winners were headed into a semifinal round Monday night. Sassy is owned and was co-bred by Hearst's mother, newspaper heir Patricia Hearst Shaw. Famous in the 1970s for her abduction and involvement in a robbery by a radical group, she's been renowned in recent years for her Frenchies and other show dogs. Colton Johnson and his family name their litters of old English sheepdogs by themes, such as songs, movies, money, or — appropriately — fluffy things. One of those 'fluff' dogs is GCH CH Bugaboo's Give Me S'more, who lolled on a table while Johnson brushed him Monday. 'It's his spa day,' joked Johnson, of Colorado Springs, Colorado. The dog's call name is Graham, as in the crackers that join toasted marshmallow and chocolate to make s'mores. The Johnsons considered calling him Marsh or Mallow, but those names didn't stick. Three-year-old Graham is a grandson of Swagger, the old English sheepdog whom Johnson handled to a second-place finish at Westminster in 2013. Last year's runner-up, a German shepherd named GCHP Kaleef's Mercedes, is back this year for a last hurrah and won her breed Monday. The 5-year-old will retire from showing after this event, co-owner Dr. Cynthian Wilhelmy said. As for her name, 'I wanted something German and something that represented excellence,' said Wilhelmy, of Martinsburg, West Virginia. 'Classic, reliable and excellent — that's Mercedes.'
